Unai Emery challenged his Aston Villa players to get back into the Champions League after being knocked out of the competition by PSG and they delivered a massive performance against top-five rivals Newcastle United.
There was no downplaying the magnitude of Villa’s Premier League clash with Newcastle in the race for Champions League football. Both teams went into Saturday evening’s fixture on red-hot form, with the Villans defeating the French champions 3-2 on Tuesday but ultimately losing 5-4 on aggregate after a first-leg defeat in Paris.
Newcastle smashed Crystal Palace 5-0 on Wednesday, three days after the 4-1 demolition of Manchester United and on a run of six wins in a row, including the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool.
It was almost impossible to predict, especially considering the Magpies’ recent form against Villa and the fact a few of those matches have been won by emphatic scorelines.
Villa had a day’s extra rest, but their European fixture had been far more gruelling, which probably made it a level playing field. Though, on the pitch, it didn’t look level at all.
Just 40 seconds in, Ollie Watkins put the hosts in front. There was a huge deflection that wrong-footed Nick Pope but Villa kept knocking on the door and the football gods spared Newcastle further damage early on, forcing two more Watkins efforts onto the woodwork via Fabian Schar.
With Eddie Howe absent for a second straight game, assistant Jason Tindall had overseen two comfortable wins. This time, though, he had to mastermind a comeback.
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Schar and Watkins were in the thick of the action and a foul from the former on the latter could have been a red card. The Swiss hauled Watkins down and was last man, though it never looked like the Villa striker was going to get on the end of the pass over the top. Villa players wanted Schar sent off and they had a case, but it was the correct call, in our humble opinion.
Right on cue, Schar scored the Magpies’ shortly after. His header somehow managed to squeeze through Emiliano Martinez at the back post and Newcastle were right back in it.
Villa were right on top in the second period and took advantage of some Newcastle frustration to retake the lead. The Magpies have some very emotional players, namely Bruno Guimaraes, and that often plays into their hands, like it has a few times against Arsenal and recently against Liverpool at Wembley, but it cost them at Villa Park.
Frustrated at not being given a penalty that definitely wasn’t a penalty, Bruno lost his cool and picked up a yellow card for an angry foul and within a couple of minutes, Ian Maatsen scored his first Premier League goal.
Assisted by Watkins, whose first-minute strike made him the Villans’ all-time joint leading goalscorer in the Premier League, Maatsen’s marauding overlap was not tracked and he struck across Pope’s goal to make it 2-1.
After that, the Newcastle wheels fell off and the floodgates opened.
Emery made a double substitution that would have a gargantuan effect on the result. Jacob Ramsey and Andre Onana both entered the pitch in the 72nd minute and by minute 75, it was 4-1.
Ramsey’s driving run and cross was turned in by Dan Burn, put off by Youri Tielemans’ run at the front post. A whole two minutes later, Onana made his presence known with an absolute corker into the top corner.
Ramsey even had time to hit the post himself. On another day, this could have been humiliating for the Magpies.
That’s if a 4-1 defeat isn’t already. Beating Newcastle will have felt particularly sweet for Villa, given their recent struggles against them, and with Champions League qualification in the balance, it was all the more satisfying. They’ve owed Howe’s side a beating for a while now, and they delivered on Saturday.
It was the first time Villa have scored four goals in the 2024/25 Premier League and saving it for what Emery had called their biggest game of the season says everything about this team’s mentality.
When the pressure is on, Villa rarely shy away. Newcastle are similar, but they were simply outclassed. Their impressive winning streak comes to an end.
Howe’s men remain third in the table and still look favourites to claim that spot below Liverpool and Arsenal. But it would be naive to rule out Villa, even with Chelsea, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest in the conversation.
In truth, the battle for Champions League football has rescued what has otherwise been a fairly underwhelming Premier League campaign. And in the six-pointers left between now and the end of 2024/25, we’ll be hoping for more games like this.
Next up for Villa is another one: a trip to the Etihad to face Manchester City on Tuesday. That, not the looming FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, is the priority.
Villa’s record away to City isn’t great, but Pep Guardiola’s side are there for the taking and this is a Villa team that just proved they’re ready for a second consecutive top-four finish. A win at the home of the champions would hammer home that they’ve fully embraced Emery’s battle cry on Tuesday – and could even lift them above the team they just smashed at Villa Park.
