Boubacar Kamara and Lucas Digne fitness update as Aston Villa receive huge boost ahead of Newcastle clash

Aston Villa have received a significant team news boost ahead of Saturday’s clash with Newcastle United at St James’ Park. Aaron Danks, who will take charge of Villa for the final time before the Unai Emery era commences, provided a positive update to the media this morning (Friday, October 28).

Steven Gerrard and Danks have both suffered a bit of a selection headache at left-back in recent weeks, with Lucas Digne and Ludwig Augustinsson both sidelined for a while. But now Danks will have an extra player to choose from, as he confirmed Digne has trained all week and will be available for the game.

The Frenchman hasn’t featured since Villa’s 1-0 home victory over Southampton on September 16 after he picked up a heel injury in training. He won’t necessarily slot right in as Ashley Young has impressed in his absence, but Digne’s return could allow for the former Manchester United man to be rested.

Danks said: “Lucas Digne has done a full week of training with the group so we’ll welcome him back into the squad.” Meanwhile, the interim head coach gave some encouraging news on big-money defensive midfielder Boubacar Kamara, who has also been unavailable since the Southampton win.

He said: “Boubacar is much closer, he’s not with the team yet but he’s back on the grass. [Other than that], it’s very much like we were last week. One or two little knocks and niggles that we’re going to have to manage through, but on the whole, really positive.”

The Villans bounced back with a dominant 4-0 victory over Brentford in their last outing, looking like an entirely different side as Danny Ings returned to form, scoring a brace. Villa will be keen to build as good a platform as possible for their new manager - with a win enough to soar toward the top ten.

It won’t be easy, though, as Newcastle are enjoying a fine spell of form with four wins in their last five matches. Only table-toppers Arsenal can match the Magpies in this period. Sitting in the top four, Newcastle have only lost one game all season - and this was away at Anfield, arguably the most challenging place to visit in the entire division.

Villa will have to be at their absolute best while finding momentum from their glory against Brentford, otherwise, it may be very tough to take any points home. The return of Digne could help, mind.