DELIGHTED Eddie Howe believes pre-season couldn't have gone much better for Newcastle United, but in a warning to their Premier League rivals ahead of this weekend's big kick-off, the head coach says there's more to come from the Magpies.

Newcastle wrapped up their preparations for the coming top flight campaign by hammering Villarreal 4-0 at St James' Park on Sunday to lift the Sela Cup.

Attention now turns to the visit of Aston Villa on Saturday teatime in the Premier League curtain raiser, with Newcastle kicking off the campaign full of confidence after carrying their momentum from last year through into an unbeaten pre-season.

For Howe, the summer couldn't have worked out much better. His side haven't tasted defeat, new signings have settled in quickly and, other than Fabian Schar's injury which isn't serious, United haven't been disrupted by any major setbacks.

"If you could have given me this position at the start of the summer I'd have taken it," admitted Howe.

"We have near enough a healthy squad which when you go through a full pre-season is the first criteria. We do have a couple of injuries. Joe (Willock) is left over from last season and the only injury added to that is Fab and fingers crossed he'll be OK. Then you look at the form of the players and fingers crossed we're building that upwards.

"To go unbeaten is really encouraging. When you set out on pre-season results aren't the be-all and end-all. Commitment to performances is key and we've seen that from the group. That's ended up with us being unbeaten and I think that's a great habit to get into.

"It doesn't mean anything when the season starts but it's given us a good chance to start the season well. The commitment, the drive to be successful is there. The spirit is very strong. These are all key characteristics to any team. Confidence levels are good, we seem to believe in each other and we know we can get better. There's growth, which we have to have.

"You don't want to peak three weeks into pre-season and then decline, you want to build upwards and hopefully there's still a lot more room to show we can.

"I do love pre-season because you get to experiment and try different things, but there's no substitute for the games where it really means something.

"We're determined to be successful again, we're looking forward to that. We know there's no guarantee with how tough the Premier League is, but it's an unbelievable competition to be in and we look forward to the challenge."

Howe now faces the difficult task of settling on a starting XI for the Villa opener. The Newcastle head coach named two different teams for the weekend wins over Fiorentina and Villarreal, with plenty of players staking their claim to be in from the off on Saturday.

Jacob Murphy impressed and scored against Villarreal, as did Harvey Barnes, who marked his home debut with a fine brace.

Howe said: "I'm delighted for Harvey because you want to make a good first impression, especially here, and he did that.

"I thought he looked quick, dynamic, direct, took his goals superbly well. I'm really pleased, it was a great day for him.

"Jacob was very good. He played slightly out of position but you wouldn't know it from his performance. Jacob is a player who always shows the right attitude and commits to every performance. He looked physically very quick and direct."