Three thousand Newcastle fans will travel to Aston Villa this Saturday to watch their first competitive away match since the start of the pandemic.
Saturday will be Newcastle’s first Premier League away game of the new season, and the first time fans have been able to attend a competitive away match since March 7, 2020, just before the first Covid lockdown, when United beat Southampton 1-0 at St Mary’s.
Since then, games have been played behind closed doors or without away fans, and supporters have had to make do with the slightly unsatisfactory experience of watching matches played at almost always empty grounds and broadcast eerily on television.
Now however, 2,950 Newcastle fans will be travelling to Birmingham to cheer on the team against a Villa side who will be looking to prove themselves after losing Jack Grealish to Manchester City and losing their opening game 3-2 at Watford.
New Villa signing Danny Ings is expected to make his home debut, as well as other new signings Emiliano Buendía and Leon Bailey, which could make a tricky afternoon for Newcastle. However, Villa boss Dean Smith is expected to be without Bertrand Traore due to a hamstring problem, and David Trezeguet is still out with a knee injury.
No doubt there will be a lot of noise in the away end, and for those not at the ground it's a readjustment to pre-pandemic times, with the 3pm kick-off match not being broadcast on television in the UK, but highlights shown on Match of the Day.
