Unai Emery agrees with divisive 2024-25 Newcastle United change that will anger Aston Villa fans

Villa finished fourth in the Premier League last season, eight points ahead of Newcastle in seventh. It was the first time The Villains had qualified for the Champions League in the Premier League era.

But Emery has once again played down his side’s chances against other ‘better’ clubs in the division, and that includes Newcastle.

Ahead of Villa’s Premier League opener at West Ham United, Emery said: “We are not contenders to be in the top four or top five.

“There are seven teams better than us. [Manchester] City, Arsenal, Tottenham, [Manchester] United, Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea.”

Newcastle opened the 2023-24 season with a 5-1 win against Aston Villa at St James’ Park and won the reverse fixture 3-1 at Villa Park back in January.

Emery’s comments naming seven teams ‘better’ than Villa ahead of the new season support a divisive Premier League rebrand made by Sky heading into the new season with the ‘big six’ now rebranded with Newcastle as the ‘big seven’.

It comes after Newcastle finished fourth in the 2022-23 season and seventh in the Premier League last season. The change interestingly omits Aston Villa, who came seventh in the 2022-23 season and fourth last season.

But the ‘big six’, with the exception of Tottenham Hotspur, have all won major trophies and challenged for titles in recent seasons while the likes of Newcastle and Villa are very much newcomers to the party at the top end of the division.

Villa head into the new season listed as a club outside of the ‘big seven’ along with the likes of West Ham and Brighton - who have also broken into the top seven places in recent seasons.

Only one of the last five Premier League seasons has seen the traditional ‘big six’ making up the top six places.

Last season, Emery dismissed the notion of a traditional ‘big six’ as he stated: “Now it is not a top six but a top seven, top eight or top 10. There are a lot of teams capable of targeting those positions and I want to add Aston Villa into it too.”