Battling pairing will take some stopping

YOU didn't expect them to lie down, did you? If there is anything we have learned about Newcastle United central defensive pairing Dan Burn and Fabian Schar over the last few seasons, it's that they will fight to the very end.

- By STUART JAMIESON Regional football editor [e-mail] @sjamieson74

They put their bodies on the line for Eddie Howe and the black-and-white cause each and every week, and have already shown they are going to take some shifting from his strongest starting XI.

Newcastle's search for a right-sided centre-back has finally come to an end with the signing for German stopper Malick Thiaw from AC Milan, but the 24-year-old was given an early indication of the task ahead of him at Villa Park on Saturday.

Similarly, as Sven Botman regains full match fitness after a hugely disrupted 2024-25 campaign, he could only watch from the sidelines as the two elder statesmen of the back line went about their job in style.