Match Report: Aston Villa 1-3 Newcastle United
Newcastle United were back to their best as they beat Aston Villa by three goals to one at Villa Park thanks to a Fabian Schär double in the first half and an own goal by Alex Moreno in the 52nd minute and then Ollie Watkins’ strike in the 71st minute proved nothing more than a consolation.
Newcastle came into this game in poor form winning only one from their last seven league games compared to Aston Villa who have only lost one game in their last ten.
Newcastle opened the scoring with Swiss defender Schär volleying home from close range after Kieran Trippier whipped a corner into a central area however it was poor defending by Ezri Konsa who allowed Schär to get ahead of him to score.
Then four minutes later it was Schär again to double his tally and double Newcastle’s lead following another Trippier corner which Aston Villa cleared only to find Anthony Gordon who hit the ball first time from the edge of the box which took a deflection from Clement Lenglet leg made the ball hit the cross and fall in front of Schär to tap home for the Magpies.
It only took Newcastle seven minutes into the second half to get their third of the game after Matty Cash was caught in possession by Anthony Gordon allowed him to burst forward and play a ball down the right hand side to Miguel Almiron who puts an inviting ball right across the face of goal to find Jacob Murphy whose shot hits Alex Moreno and goes into the back of the net to make it three to Newcastle.
Aston Villa were not giving up despite being three goals down and in the 71st minute after John Mcginn plays a great ball over the top to substitute Leon Bailey who whips in a low cross from the right hand side for Watkins to fire past Martin Dubravka for his ninth goal of the season.
Villa continued to thrive under the atmosphere and thought they had a second, three minutes later with Watkins having the ball in the back of net again after a lovely, chipped shot over Dubravka however VAR ruled out the goal after Watkins was deemed offside.
Despite the late pressure from Aston Villa, Newcastle managed to get their first win at Villa Park in 10 years and be the first team to win a match at Villa Park since February 2023. This win sees Newcastle move up to seventh whereas Aston Villa stay fourth in the table.
