Aston Villa 1 Newcastle 3: Toon deal huge blow to Villa’s top four hopes and end Unai Emery’s astonishing home record
UNAI EMERY knew his remarkable home record at Villa would not last forever. He just would not have expected Fabian Schar to smash it to pieces.
Because if you were to have a guess at naming the Premier League player to eventually send Emery’s team to their first Villa Park loss of the season, Schar’s name would not have been on the list.
Yet the Newcastle central defender scored his first Premier League goal for 17 months and then unbelievably, grabbed another one four minutes later.
Eddie Howe, whose side had lost four successive Premier League games, saw his side add a third when Jacob Murphy’s shot was nudged over the line by Alex Moreno.
Ollie Watkins, without a goal in his previous six Villa matches, pulled one back with 19 minutes left but Villa had too much work to do.
For Howe, who is suffering his toughest spell at Toon boss, this was a hugely pleasing performance. It was more like the Newcastle we saw from last season.
As for Villa, this was the type of below-par, disjoined performance which their opponents had been producing over the last few weeks.
Not since Arsenal left here with a 4-2 win in February 2022 had Villa lost at home and this record merely illustrates the terrific progress Emery’s side have made.
But this was a reminder that to follow Newcastle’s achievement by landing a top four spot it will still be extremely difficult, even though not impossible, for Villa.
The only negative for Howe was a first half injury to striker Alexander Isak who was replaced by Miggy Almiron, a player whose future at the club has looked uncertain but played a part in the third goal.
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Yet the unlikely hero for Newcastle was Swiss centre-back Schar who grabbed one goal against PSG in the Champions League in October but whose previous top-flight goal was in a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest in August 2022.
His well-taken effort was no more than Newcastle had deserved as they had completely dominated Villa who had been saved by keeper Emi Martinez and some excellent blocks by Clement Lenglet and Ezri Konsa.
Before the game, Emery warned Villa to be on red alert at set-pieces as both goals in the 2-0 FA Cup win over Fulham came from corners.
Yet From Trippier’s corner, Ollie Watkins missed a header and Schar got in front of centre-back Konsa to prod the ball into the corner of the net.
Incredibly, it was Newcastle’s first Premier League goal at Villa Park since Yoan Gouffran in September 2013.
And the second soon followed with Schar in the right place at the right time. He was first to react to Anthony Gordon’s shot, which had deflected onto the bar off Lenglet.
Lacking ideas and energy, the nearest Villa came to a goal was a header from John McGinn over in first half injury time.
Yet any realistic hopes of a Villa revival went down the gurgler just a few minutes into the second half.
Matty Cash was caught sleeping and lost possession, Gordon ran unchallenged for 30 yards and he fed Almiron whose first-time cross was met at the far post by Murphy.
Alex Moreno helped the ball over the line before smashing into the post - and it certainly looked pretty painful.
Moussa Diaby had a goal-bound shot blocked by Schar but Watkins then pulled one back by turning in a near post cross from Leon Bailey, who had a big impact when coming on.
Almost directly from the restart, Watkins thought he had scored again when he clipped a shot over Martin Dubravka but he was offside.
Sean Longstaff should have made it 4-1 in the 89th minute but Martinez delivered a terrific save.
During nine minutes of stoppage time, Newcastle’s fans sang the name of their boss.
That FA Cup win at Fulham was crucial but so was. And for the time being, with injured players returning to fitness, it seems as Howe has overcome his particularly nasty spell at the club.
The pressure is off - for the time being at least.
