There is a lot of anticipation for Aston Villa's opening match against Newcastle United. For one, the opening of the Premier League season will be a welcome return to action. Through the frustrations and poor decisions throughout a campaign, life just feels different when being able to look forward to an EPL match.
As it so happens, the first encounter will be against Newcastle. Following the last match of the 2024-2025 season, this is one that is somewhat symbolic for Villa supporters.
Although it has to be acknowledged that Villa did not perform well against Manchester United, their falling from a Champions League spot allowed Newcastle to take advantage, and it is now they who will be in Europe's top club competition.
Had events not unfolded like that, though, Alexander Isak could foreseeably have been convinced to look elsewhere to continue playing. Instead, the Swedish striker continues to play for the same club, and they can look forward to making further progress.
By contrast, Villa has done well to stave off the concerns of future lack of additional revenue from being in Europa League. It is reasonable to suspect, however, that if Villa had once again qualified for Champions League, they would have potentially been in a position to be a little more active this transfer period.
Remaining Aston Villa aspects to consider
The issue of needing to have zero-sum acquisitions regarding wages would still come into play, but there's a chance Monchi and Unai Emery would have tried to test the waters a bit more.
Not that it does much good now to speculate there too much further. Villa will suit up for their opening Premier League matchday, and Emiliano Martínez will not be the keeper for the afternoon.
Looking at what Emery does there and how he lines up, in general, for the first game of the season are all among some of the talking points that Villa fans currently have questions about during the middle portion of July.