- “We missed Bruno”: Howe rues captain’s absence after Buendia and Watkins fire Aston Villa past Newcastle | OneFootball

Eddie Howe has said the absence of Bruno Guimaraes hurt Newcastle as his side suffered a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa at St James' Park.

Guimaraes was ruled out of the clash after sustaining an ankle injury during the midweek win over PSV Eindhoven in theChampions League.

Newcastle struggled without their captain, as Howe's side slipped to a costly defeat on home soil. Goals from Emi Buendia and Ollie Watkins sealedAston Villa's first win at St James' Park in 21 years in a result that leaves Newcastle four points adrift of the Champions League places.

"Going back to Bruno [Guimaraes], I think we missed his ability to pass forward today," Howe reflected toSky Sports.

"There was certainly an element of our game that got hurt by him not being here.

"He is possibly the focal point for a lot of our build play. We maybe suffered from not having him but we have to be able to play without him as well and hope we don't have to do that for too long."

Howe admitted a missed early opportunity for Sandro Tonali could have altered the game, as Emi Martinez made a fine stop to deny the Italian.

The result continues an inconsistent campaign for Newcastle who have struggled to juggle the demands ofPremier League and Champions League football.

"Missed opportunities for us. Sandro [Tonali] has that chance right at the start of the game and if it goes in it's a different game. I thought we were better in the second half than the first. There were chances and moments there without our final ball being of the quality that it normally is. A lot of the crossing was poor.

"There main threat was long shots and they scored one. That changes the whole game. It was blustery and windy, we can't use that as an excuse, we are just disappointed with a lot of our final actions because I thought generally we were okay in the game.