Villa 4 Newcastle 1–Villa Boost Their Chances of Champions League Qualification
On Tuesday, Aston Villa were coming off a 3-2 win against PSG in the Champions League quarterfinals. However, they went out of the competition 5-4 on aggregate. Villa now turn their focus onto finishing in a Champions League spot in the Premier League and advancing to the FA Cup final with a semifinal matchup against Crystal Palace on the horizon.
Newcastle were coming off a 5-0 victory against Crystal Palace on Wednesday. The Magpies are still without their manager, Eddie Howe, who has contracted pneumonia; Jason Tindall continues to take charge in his absence. Newcastle are still pushing to finish in the top five for Champions League qualification and are firmly in the mix after their win against Palace.
A Quick Start From The Claret and Blue
Villa was the one who struck first in this highly anticipated matchup among Champions League qualification hopefuls. The goal came in at the 33-second mark from Ollie Watkins. Tonali gathered the ball deep into Newcastle’s corner while pressed by Watkins. Tonali’s clearance found Tielemans who picked his head up and made a red-carpet pass to put Watkins through on goal as Newcastle’s defense was exposed. As Watkins struck the ball, Fabian Schär came over to try to make a block, but instead, the ball deflected off him and went in the opposite direction from where Pope was leaning.
Newcastle responded well from going down early by creating chances for themselves and putting pressure around the Villa goal. Later, Watkins had a chance to make it two for Villa from a nice mazy run into the box as he smashed the ball onto the crossbar. Newcastle couldn’t get a foothold in the match in the opening 15 minutes, as Villa was the team who pushed the narrative.
Newcastle’s Goal and Villa Chances
Schär leveled the game for Newcastle off a delightful Harvey Barnes cross. Off the second phase of a freekick, Barnes gathered the ball out wide and found Schär back post, who headed the ball into the ground and went between Emi Martinez’s legs.
After conceding, Villa went down the other end of the field and nearly retook the lead. Maatsen was played through by McGinn out wide, and Maatsen cut the ball back to the penalty spot, where he found Asensio, but ended up scuffing his shot—Villa created another chance as Watkins’ header struck the post from an Asensio set piece.
Villa had more control of the game with possession, but Newcastle looked great on the break and showed how threatening they can be when they quickly go from back to front.
All Villa in The Second Half
Early in the second half, Villa created more opportunities, which resulted in a Tonali goal-line clearance from a Tielemans header off a corner. Newcastle didn’t have much going forward and didn’t pose a threat to Villa compared to the first half.
Villa’s go-ahead goal started from a great clipped pass by Emi Martinez, bypassing Newcastle’s first line of pressure to find Morgan Rogers around the halfway line. Rogers was in space and allowed to turn and found Asensio through the middle, who played a one-touch pass out wide to Watkins, who passed the ball into the path of an overlapping Ian Maatsen, who found himself in the box and smashed it one time into the far corner.
The third goal was a Dan Burn own goal due to Newcastle’s lack of pressure on the Villa players in the move that led up to the goal. Watkins had time to turn as Dan Burn was not tight to him, which allowed him to find Jacob Ramsey out wide.
Tripper was slow to get out and apply pressure to Ramsey, which gave him time and space. Tripper allowed Ramsey to drive at him, who delivered a low cross into the box.
Ramsey attempted to find Tielemans as he ran in front of Dan Burn, which resulted in Burn not getting his feet sorted in time and the ball hitting him and going into the back of the net.
Villa’s fourth goal happened right from the kickoff after Newcastle conceded the third goal. Schär poorly gave the ball away to Onana, and Newcastle’s shape was exposed as they were not ready for a Villa attack.
Onana started the move as he laid it off to Rogers, who then played to Tielemans forward, and Tielemans played Rogers, who danced on the ball to evade challenges as he found himself in the box and got his shot off. Pope made himself big and made the save; Ramsey gathered the loose ball and found Rogers, who teed up Onana, who hit an absolute thunderbolt as his shot went straight into the roof of the net off a one-time finish at the top of the box.
What’s Next
After ending Newcastle’s six-game unbeaten run, Aston Villa head to the Eithad on Tuesday to face Man City in another key battle for those Champions League spots. As for Newcastle, they look to bounce back on Saturday against relegation-bound Ipswich Town.
Featured Image via News365/ Images in article NBC Sports
