Aston Villa were ‘managing a couple of minor niggles’ on Friday ahead of this afternoon’s trip to Newcastle, Ashley Preece reports.

The Lowdown: Emery watching on

Caretaker manager Aaron Danks will once again be leading the side later today following last weekend’s 4-0 win over Brentford.

New head coach Unai Emery isn’t expected to be present to watch the game live, but the Spaniard will of course be watching from home ahead of his official start on Tuesday.

The Latest: Preece’s post

Villa reporter Preece took to Twitter on Friday to share a team news update ahead of the trip to St. James’ Park.

He relayed positive updates on Lucas Digne and Boubacar Kamara, before adding that Danks has been ‘managing a couple of minor niggles amongst the group’ in the past 24 hours.

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The Verdict: Mystery…

Danks didn’t name the players that the club have been monitoring, so it’ll be interesting to see the team sheet come 2pm this afternoon.

Hopefully, those who the Villa staff have managed will make it, and it’ll also be a boost to see Digne back in the squad.

Ashley Young has been excellent in Digne’s absence and is currently Villa's best-performing outfield player, as per WhoScored, so Danks will have a decision to make at left-back in his starting XI, and it seems as if he may leave it as late as possible before making calls on those other injury scares.