Is Newcastle United v Aston Villa on TV? Channel, streaming details and early teams news

Newcastle United face a significant challenge as they get their Premier League season underway with a home game against Aston Villa this weekend.

The two sides surpassed all expectations last season after the Magpies secured a return to the Champions League after an absence of two decades and Villa ended their own absence from European competition by landing a place in the Europa Conference League, 12 years after appearing in the Europa League.

Both Eddie Howe and Unai Emery have enjoyed productive summer transfer windows so far and the first day of the season could see a number of players making their competitive debuts for each side.

With hours to go until the new season gets underway, NewcastleWorld looks at everything you need to know ahead of the big kick-off.

When and where does Newcastle United v Aston Villa take place?

Newcastle’s opening game of the Premier League season comes on Saturday 12th August. The game will take place at St James Park and kick-off is scheduled for 5.30pm.

What is the latest team news ahead of the game?

Eddie Howe has received mixed news on the injury front ahead of his side’s first Premier League game as Fabian Schar has returned to training after missing the Magpies final two pre-season fixtures. However, defender Emil Krafth and midfielder Joe Willock will both miss out against Villa and are not expected to be available until after next month’s international break.

Howe does have his trio of summer signings available as Harvey Barnes, Sandro Tonali and Tino Livramento all hope to experience competitive action for the first time.

Villa boss Unai Emery was given a major blow on the eve of the new season after winger Emi Buendia suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury that will keep him on the sidelines for a number of months.

The former Arsenal boss will have three new additions available after he completed moves for Bayer Leverkusen winger Moussa Diaby, Villarreal defender Pau Torres and Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans during the summer.

What has been said ahead of the game?

Eddie Howe: “Naturally you move from challenge to challenge and now I think the one in front of us is our biggest challenge, but we have to be excited about it. We have to take it head on. We go into a very difficult start and that’s another challenge added to it, but we’ll give it our best shot. We’ll go all in and that’s all I ask the players to deliver - their absolute maximum.”

Unai Emery: “Starting against Newcastle is a very good challenge for us. It’s difficult and I’m very excited about how we can face the match, analysing them, the match we played in pre-season and the last two matches they played in pre-season last week. They are feeling strong at home and their objective has now changed completely from two years before. They have to be in the top four. We want to be as close as we can to be a candidate to be in the top seven or top four. That is the challenge we are going to face.”

Where will the game be broadcast?

The game has been selected for live coverage by Sky Sports and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League. The coverage will get underway at 5pm, half hour before kick-off. Sky customers can also live stream the action via the Sky Go app.