Matthias Jaissle drops one of his biggest Newcastle United hints yet ahead of Aston Villa clash
Newcastle United host Aston Villa at St James’ Park looking to bounce back from their 4-1 defeat at Coventry City.
Newcastle United head coach Matthias Jaissle has hinted that vice-captain Joelinton could start against Aston Villa.
Joelinton made his first appearance of the campaign as a 60th-minute substitute in the 4-1 Premier League defeat away to Coventry City on Monday night.
The Brazilian missed the final two matches of last season with a thigh injury before suffering a setback midway through pre-season. He returned to training during the recent international break and is now in contention to make his first start since May.
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If selected, Joelinton will likely take the armband against Villa, with Jaissle playing down Dan Burn's chances of making the starting line-up.
Matthias Jaissle drops Joelinton hint
Burn came on for the final four minutes of stoppage time at the CBS Arena following an injury for Bazoumana Toure. Like Joelinton, it was the Blyth-born defender’s first appearance of the campaign.
“Yeah, we need to manage that really carefully,” Jaissle said when asked if Joelinton and Burn could start. “Like I mentioned already, that's the tricky part. We missed them so much.
“Joe is now longer in the training compared to Dan and these are now the next steps for both of them to integrate them, to give them more game time.
“For Dan it will most likely be too short to get the starting position as he just trained a couple of times really with us. For Joelinton, it could be a bit different.”
Newcastle United team news
Newcastle have no fresh injury concerns heading into the Villa match after Jaissle confirmed that Toure should be available.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Jaissle said: “Bazou seems to be much better. We're happy for that. It didn't look that well straight away during the match.
“He has been progressing good in the last few days, so hopefully he's able to join the group on Saturday.”
Jaissle’s side are still without Anthony Elanga and Jacob Ramsey, though it is hoped both players can resume training ahead of next Sunday’s trip to Crystal Palace. Tino Livramento should return in the coming weeks, but the Magpies are extra cautious considering the full-back’s recent injury history.