Eddie Howe drops Newcastle United vs Aston Villa hint and takes Bruno Guimaraes stance

Aston Villa face Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon in hope of winning their first game at St. James' Park since 2005.

Steven Gerrard's side come into the game in a decent run of form having remained unbeaten in their last three against Manchester United, Everton and Leeds United, but opponents Newcastle will most definitely come into the game with a spring in their step.

The Mapgies have won their last two league games against Leeds and Everton and are searching for their third consecutive Premier League win for the first time since November 2018 when they host Villa.

In their last win over Everton, Newcastle started three of the five players they recruited in the January transfer window, with Matt Targett - who is on loan from Villa - Kieran Tripper and Chris Wood all in Howe's first XI for the visit of the Toffees.

But Dan Burn and Bruno Guimaraes both had to settle for a place on the bench and could make their full debuts against Villa this weekend.

Brazil international Guimaraes was the stand-out January buy for Newcastle, as he arrived on Tyneside for a fee rising to £40million from Lyon.

Ahead of the game against Villa, Howe claimed the Brazilian was fit and ready to make his first start, but admitted the balance of his midfield against Everton worked well.

“He’s ready to play. He’s fit to play,” Howe said when asked if Guimaraes is ready to start against Villa.

“Certainly he’s shown all the technical qualities we loved about him in training already but it’s a case of managing the group from my side and making sure I make the right selections for each game that is very different.

“The midfield balance against Everton was really good with Joelinton, Joe Willock and Jonjo (Shelvey) in there, I thought the