24th June 2020
By Adam Holt
Newcastle United 1 (Gayle, '68)
Aston Villa 1 (Elmohamady, '83)
In a crucial game at St. James's Park for both sides, but Aston Villa in particular this battle for Premier League safety in the intense heat ended in a stalemate, the draw doing little to alleviate Villa's relegation fears.
But first the line-ups...
Newcastle United:
1 - Martin Dubravka (GK)
19 - Javier Manquillo
6 - Jamaal Lascelles (C)
18 - Federico Fernandez
28 - Danny Rose
11 - Matt Ritchie
8 - Jonjo Shelvey
14 - Isaac Hayden
10 - Allan Saint-Maximin
24 - Miguel Almiron
9 - Joelinton
Subs: 5 - Fabian Schar, 7 - Andy Carroll, 12 - Dwight Gayle, 13 - Yoshinori Muto, 17 - Emil Krafth, 22 - DeAndre Yedlin, 23 - Valentino Lazaro, 26 - Karl Darlow (GK) & 42 - Nabil Bentaleb.
Aston Villa:
25 - Orjan Nyland (GK)
15 - Ezri Konsa
30 - Kortney Hause
40 - Tyrone Mings
18 - Matt Targett
7 - John McGinn
6 - Douglas Luiz
10 - Jack Grealish (C)
21 - Anwar El Ghazi
20 - Mbwana Samatta
17 - Trezeguet
Substitutes: 3 - Neil Taylor, 11 - Marvelous Nakamba, 14 - Conor Hourihane, 19 - Borja Baston, 23 - Jota, 27 - Ahmed Elmohamady, 29 - Pepe Reina (GK), 36 - Indiana Vassilev & 39 Keinan Davis.
In the sweltering heat in the North East Aston Villa knew that a win at St. James's Park would lift the Villans out of the relegation zone into sixteenth place and well on their way to potentially securing Premier League survival. For Newcastle, this was their chance to all but confirm their place in next season's Premier League season. Of course getting three points was important for both sides, but it was more important for Villa, in their situation to secure three points, to not only lift themselves out of the bottom three, but also to restore confidence and put even more pressure on the teams around them to secure three points as well. Being on 29 points and 16th in the table will obviously not have secured Villa's safety, but with other results going their way, with Bournemouth losing 1 - 0 at Molineux against Wolves, and Norwich losing 1 - 0 to Everton at Carrow Road, three points would have been a statement, and a chance to take advantage of their rivals' losses.
Aston Villa started the game well on top, and holding much of the possession and impetus in the opening stages of the game with the Villans looking hungrier for three points and looked to have their destiny in this game well in their hands, with the game then in their control, with only a couple of counter attacks from Newcastle, which yielded no shots for the Magpies. In contrast, Villa were creating chance after chance and looking the most likely team to score first - there were two massive chances in particular which perhaps should have secured a goal for the Villa. The first chance that comes to mind is when Ezri Konsa put a great ball into the Newcastle box that flew just over the head of Samatta and landed on the boot of Trezeguet, with the effort floating just over the cross bar. Big chance. Another massive chance for Villa came in the form of another wonderful ball, this time from Douglas Luiz (who had a great game by the way), which landed on the forehead of Samatta, but he could not generate enough power in the header and consequently the effort failed to hit the target. Villa constantly tried to create the chance that would end in what would have been an ever so important opening goal for Villa. Alas, it was not meant to be, as the Villans failed to capitalise on any of the chances they created in the first half.
Following Aston Villa's initial dominance of the game, Newcastle United came into their own in the second half, through their talisman Allan Saint-Maximin - the Frenchman caused so many problems for the Villa backline, which has been well documented as the worst defence in the Premier League. A sign of the Magpies's resurgence in the game came through a mistake from Kortney Hause, who had the ball stolen from him by Jonjo Shelvey, who then gave it to Joelinton with only Tyrone Mings stopping the Brazilian from scoring a second goal in as many games with a goal saving challenge that kept the game somehow level at 0-0. Allan Saint-Maximin was Newcastle's best player in this match, with much of the Magpies's threat coming through the Frenchman's attacking prowess, combining his pace and dribbling skills to try and open up Villa's defence, which he did on several occasions, with his first shot whistling past Nyland's post. An amazing turn by the Frenchman then left many of Villa's players for dead, only for the attack to end in no goal for the Magpies, yet.
The opening goal of the game came in the 68th minute through, of all things, a throw in, which was given to Andy Carroll, who had drawn many of the Villa's players, in particular two of Villa's defenders, Matt Targett and Tyrone Mings, and gave the ball to Dwight Gayle leaving Ezri Konsa on his own to defend against the striker, who, baring down on goal, put the ball in the back of the net to give the Magpies the lead - extremely poor defending from Villa's point of view. This was very frustrating for Aston Villa and its fans as Villa had been unable to stamp their authority on the match early on and they had now been punished for not taking advantage of any of these opportunities.
Villa had had many corners throughout the game that had come to nothing, so you would have been forgiven for thinking that yet another corner, in the 83rd minute was going end yet again with the Magpies clearing their lines. However, luckily for the Villans, this set-piece came good, with the ball from Hourihane's corner floating through the Newcastle box to Ahmed Elmohamady's feet, and the Egyptian full-back managed to tap the ball home to restore parity for Aston Villa, and a chance to potentially secure a vitally important three points. Villa's dominance then made a long awaited return as Villa re-found their hunger for a winner, with several chances falling to the Villans (although many were not clear - cut chances) and Villa were unable to breakdown Newcastle's defence for a second time and settle for a point.
Aston Villa will be disappointed to leave Newcastle with only a point, when three would have really put their survival bid back on track, but one point is obviously better than no points and this point earned in the evening heat in the North East could, in the end, prove vital to Villa's survival efforts. The point brought Villa level on points with 18th placed Bournemouth and 17th placed Watford, with the reason Villa's point did not lift them up at least one place being inferior goal difference.
Aston Villa started the game well on top, and holding much of the possession and impetus in the opening stages of the game with the Villans looking hungrier for three points and looked to have their destiny in this game well in their hands, with the game then in their control, with only a couple of counter attacks from Newcastle, which yielded no shots for the Magpies. In contrast, Villa were creating chance after chance and looking the most likely team to score first - there were two massive chances in particular which perhaps should have secured a goal for the Villa. The first chance that comes to mind is when Ezri Konsa put a great ball into the Newcastle box that flew just over the head of Samatta and landed on the boot of Trezeguet, with the effort floating just over the cross bar. Big chance. Another massive chance for Villa came in the form of another wonderful ball, this time from Douglas Luiz (who had a great game by the way), which landed on the forehead of Samatta, but he could not generate enough power in the header and consequently the effort failed to hit the target. Villa constantly tried to create the chance that would end in what would have been an ever so important opening goal for Villa. Alas, it was not meant to be, as the Villans failed to capitalise on any of the chances they created in the first half.
Following Aston Villa's initial dominance of the game, Newcastle United came into their own in the second half, through their talisman Allan Saint-Maximin - the Frenchman caused so many problems for the Villa backline, which has been well documented as the worst defence in the Premier League. A sign of the Magpies's resurgence in the game came through a mistake from Kortney Hause, who had the ball stolen from him by Jonjo Shelvey, who then gave it to Joelinton with only Tyrone Mings stopping the Brazilian from scoring a second goal in as many games with a goal saving challenge that kept the game somehow level at 0-0. Allan Saint-Maximin was Newcastle's best player in this match, with much of the Magpies's threat coming through the Frenchman's attacking prowess, combining his pace and dribbling skills to try and open up Villa's defence, which he did on several occasions, with his first shot whistling past Nyland's post. An amazing turn by the Frenchman then left many of Villa's players for dead, only for the attack to end in no goal for the Magpies, yet.
The opening goal of the game came in the 68th minute through, of all things, a throw in, which was given to Andy Carroll, who had drawn many of the Villa's players, in particular two of Villa's defenders, Matt Targett and Tyrone Mings, and gave the ball to Dwight Gayle leaving Ezri Konsa on his own to defend against the striker, who, baring down on goal, put the ball in the back of the net to give the Magpies the lead - extremely poor defending from Villa's point of view. This was very frustrating for Aston Villa and its fans as Villa had been unable to stamp their authority on the match early on and they had now been punished for not taking advantage of any of these opportunities.
Villa had had many corners throughout the game that had come to nothing, so you would have been forgiven for thinking that yet another corner, in the 83rd minute was going end yet again with the Magpies clearing their lines. However, luckily for the Villans, this set-piece came good, with the ball from Hourihane's corner floating through the Newcastle box to Ahmed Elmohamady's feet, and the Egyptian full-back managed to tap the ball home to restore parity for Aston Villa, and a chance to potentially secure a vitally important three points. Villa's dominance then made a long awaited return as Villa re-found their hunger for a winner, with several chances falling to the Villans (although many were not clear - cut chances) and Villa were unable to breakdown Newcastle's defence for a second time and settle for a point.
Aston Villa will be disappointed to leave Newcastle with only a point, when three would have really put their survival bid back on track, but one point is obviously better than no points and this point earned in the evening heat in the North East could, in the end, prove vital to Villa's survival efforts. The point brought Villa level on points with 18th placed Bournemouth and 17th placed Watford, with the reason Villa's point did not lift them up at least one place being inferior goal difference.
Players of the match:
Newcastle United - Allan Saint-Maximin
The ex-Nice winger constantly caused the Villa defence problems, with his pace and trickery creating numerous chances for Newcastle United and was perhaps unlucky to not score at some point in the match as a reward for his influential performance - with his turn to leave many a Villa player for dead coming to mind.
Aston Villa - Douglas Luiz
Douglas Luiz was part of most of the good Villa did in this game, with his passes opening up the Magpies's defence, his strength and defensive prowess was on full show, enabling his team to continue/launch attacks on Newcastle's goal. His defensive and creative prowess in this game showed why he is one of the first names on the Villa team sheet and why he is such an important player for Villa and their survival bid.
One last thing...
Aston Villa will be the happier of the two sides following this result, but will have done their survival bid more chance of success with three points instead of one, with many Villa fans starting to lose hope. I will not lose hope that Villa can survive yet, but I am also realistic and believe that time is quickly running out for Villa to secure survival. We, as Villa fans, can only hope that Dean Smith and his team can pull a miracle out of the bag and secure Aston Villa's place in next season's Premier League.