Villa blow Champions League rivals Newcastle out of the water | OneFootball

It has been quite the week for Aston Villa, and I don’t think even the most optimistic Villa fans would have predicted the outcome of Saturday evening’s clash between Villa and Newcastle United.

Newcastle have a very good recent record against Villa, and I even commented on social media in the buildup to the game that they tend to bully us, and this is where we come up short.

It took just 33 seconds for the home side to take the lead, with Ollie Watkins’ effort deflecting off Fabian Schär to wrong-foot Nike Pope and into the back of the net.

The striker could have had a first-half hat-trick with his second effort falling after five minutes, but his effort rattled off the cross-bar.

Despite Villa’s early domination, against the run of play, the visitors pulled themselves level after 18 minutes when Schär, who could have arguably been sent off moments earlier, got on the end of a Harvey Barnes cross to pull the game level.

The home side kept coming with Marco Asensio scuffing his shot, and Watkins once again hitting the woodwork with his header rebounding back off the post.

It is often said that Villa are a second half team and this game backed up that theory when they found the net just after the hour mark.

Watkins, once again in the thick of things played a ball down the line for Ian Maatsen who ran into the box before shooting across goal to make it 2-1.

Nine minutes later, Villa had a third when Jacob Ramsey’s low cross deflected off Dan Burn and into the net.

Unai Emery’s side was not done there, though, with them saving the best until last.. Morgan Rogers was denied by Pope from close range, with the ball falling to substitute Amadou Onana on the edge of the box, unleashing a stunning effort to finish off a fine performance.