All smiles at Villa park tonight, as Villa comfortably beat Newcastle. It just gets worse and worse for The Magpies as they now go 8 games without a win.
Marvelous Nakamba, earned his second Premier League start of the season, replacing the suspended John McGinn, as Dean Smith made one change from the midweek defeat at Manchester City, with the Villa head coach himself watching from the directors’ box following his dismissal at the Etihad Stadium.
Villa started the game fast, with the first real chance being the first goal of the game. Ollie Watkins ended his 10-game goal drought by getting on the end of Matt Targett's cross. A missed interception by Newcastle defender Fabian Schar, made the ball bobble up into the air which made it a simple header for Ollie Watkins. 13 minutes in.
Ollie thought he had got himself a brace, but a VAR check shows a clear offside.
Newcastle could only clear a corner from villa skipper Jack Grealish, to the edge of the box where Traore found the Villa skipper down the left and he reversed the ball back to the onrushing, in-form wide man who side-footed into the top corner off the underside of the crossbar.
The second half got off to a great start for the Villa players, as Watkins hits a shot straight at Karl Darlow, the follow up from Luiz went wide.
Darlow denied substitute Trezeguet, who was making his return to action, with the final action of the encounter as Villa kept the visitors at bay and saw the game out to secure only their second win in the last 15 meetings with the Magpies.
The game ended 2-0 to Aston Villa, as they ran riot over Newcastle.
Post Match Smith said that he thought that we were "good" but was a bit sloppy in the second half, as the game could have been 3/4 goals to nil.
Aston Villa Player Ratings:
Martinez - 8.0 - Martinez was solid in goal and looked comfortable plucking crosses out of the air all evening, he also made a good recovery save after the ball cannoned off of Tyrone Mings into the path of the Newcastle forward. His Distribution was top class.
Cash - 7.5 - Cash was athletic and his usual self against Newcastle, bombing up and down the pitch, making some good recovery tackles and putting good balls into the box.
Konsa - 9.0 - Konsa was solid as a rock, dealt with everything that came his way, no one could get past him!
Mings - 7.5 - Mings loose a few times in possession but overall a solid performance as well from the England International, who made the game look easy at times, kept it to basics also.
Targett - 9.5 - Another brilliant performance from AVFC's left back who got alot of criticism last season. he is really now looking the part in this Villa side.
Luiz - 8.0 - Thought Luiz didn't look as comfortbale as he did in his normal "shielding" role and Luiz admitted himself that he gave "too many balls away" but after The AVFC Faithful's offer of his balls, Luiz swiftly responded that he had "two well kept balls"
Nakamba - 10.0- Thought Nakamba was fabulous, he came in without a fuss and didn't give the ball away, he kept things ticking and intercepted when he needed to. MOTM performance from Nakamba.
Barkley - 7.0 - Barkley looked like he was starting to get back to his best as he was driving at defenders all game, I still think that he has more gears to hit and he held onto the ball too long at times.
Grealish - 7.0 - Was probably one of the worst performances I have seen in a long time from our skipper, If I am being brutally honest, just thought everything he tried didnt really come off, and he got subbed for the first time since 2019! Jack's running numbers were still unbelievable and he got an assist to his name, so overall not a bad day out for Jack.
Watkins - 8.5 - Thought Ollie was superb, pressing from the front, deserved his goal, and could have had 3! Had a goal disallowed for offside, and a big chance in the second half where we could have put the game to bed.
Traore - 9.5 - The Maverick continues....Thought Traore was superb again tonight, 4 goals in 6 games now as the winger is really starting to find his feet in the Premier League after a move from France in the Summer.
Subs:
El Ghazi - 6.5 - El Ghazi came on in the 80th minute, his only involvement in the game was putting in a good cross which in the end found Trezeguet who forced a save from Darlow.
Trezeguet - 6.5 - Trez also came on in the 80th minute, he forced a save from Darlow, dropping to his knees after he saw the save made. Good to see Trezeguet back after almost 3 months out.
Ramsey 6.5 - Again, youngster Jacob Ramsey looked tidy played some good passes and controlled the ball well when he had to. Looks so comfortable.
Match pics to follow.
