Aston Villa handed major injury boost as former Newcastle United ‘target’ set for return to action

Villa are looking for back-to-back wins after their 4-0 triumph over Brentford last weekend, aiming to get the Unai Emery-era off to the perfect start at a venue they tasted defeat in February. Whilst Emery won’t be in the dugout at St James’s Park on Saturday, Villa could be boosted by the return of Lucas Digne.

Digne has been absent for over a month with an ankle injury, however, reports in L’Equipe suggest that the Frenchman may be fit to feature on Tyneside. Despite initial reports fearing that Digne could be out until December, putting his participation with France at the World Cup under serious threat, the 29-year-old may be fit enough to play a part in Saturday’s game.

The match on Saturday could see Digne square-off against the club he reportedly ‘turned down’ the opportunity to join in January, before he made the switch to Villa Park. As a result of Digne’s move to the Midlands, Matt Targett initially joined Newcastle United on a short-term loan deal, before making the move into a permanent one this summer.

Newcastle could have also been facing another one of their high-profile transfer targets on Saturday but Diego Carlos’ achilles tendon injury means the Brazilian will miss the game. However, the Magpies have their own injury worries to deal with as well with Allan Saint-Maximin unlikely to feature and Alexander Isak ruled-out of the game.