Key events
Full time: Newcastle 5-1 Aston Villa
Peep! Peep! Peep! With Callum Wilson bearing down on goal, Ezri Konsa denies him with a wonderfully timed tackle. Bobby Madley draws proceedings to a close and Newcastle’s fans celebrate an emphatic win in their opening match of the season. Their team has spanked five goals past Aston Villa, whose manager will be appalled by a performance that was at times surprisingly inept.
90+5 min: Villa win a corner which Newcastle clear.
90+2 min: Sandro Tonali is booked for time-wasting as he dawdles off the pitch after being substituted. He’s had an excellent debut and is replaced by Elliott Anderson, a 20-year-old from Whitley Bay who has been with the club for 12 years.
GOAL! Newcastle 5-1 Aston Villa (Barnes 90+1)
Newcastle score five! Aston Villa’s high line costs them dearly again. Harvey Barnes sprints on to a through ball and slots it past Emi Martinez. It’s dreadful defending from Villa.
89 min: Unai Emery does not look best pleased in his technical area and it’s small wonder. The Aston Villa manager has every right to be concerned with the man ner in which his side’s defence has occasionally been eviscerated by Newcastle’s players, who are still pressing and harrying relentlessly despite being three goals up with the game in its knockings.
87 min: Aston Villa double-substitution: Moussa Diaby and Matty Cash go off to be replaced by Philippe Coutinho and academy graduate Jaden Philogene.
85 min: Newcastle double-substitution: Bruno Guimaraes and Miguel Almiron make way for Sean Longstaff and Jacob Murphy.
83 min: Newcastle win a corner and Martinez comes for the ball but doesn’t get near it. Joelinton heads the ball goalwards but Ollie Watkins blocks on the line and clears.
81 min: From just inside the Villa half, Barnes is released in a one-on-one against Martinez and gallops goalwards before unselfishly laying the ball off to Wilson, who was up in support. He looks certain to score from close range, but Martinez somehow keeps the ball out with one of his knee.
79 min: Newcastle’s fourth goal survives a VAR check for offside, much to the delight of the home fans. Villa are getting battered here, much like they piled the hurt on Newcastle when the two sides met at Villa Park last April.
GOAL! Newcastle 4-1 Aston Villa (Wilson 77)
Newcastle stretch their lead! Taking advantage of Villa’s high defensive line, Barnes latches on to a through ball in behind and squares it for Callum Wilson. He slots home with a minimum of fuss.
75 min: Harvey Barnes hasn’t been on the field long but has already sent one cross into the Villa penalty area and drawn two fouls from Ezri Konsa.
74 min: Matty Cash sends a speculative low cross fizzing across the Newcastle penalty area, forcing Nick Pope to get something on the ball and put it out for a corner. Nothing comes of the set-piece.
72 min: Tyrone Mings update: Sky Sports are reporting that after receving lengthy treatment in the bowels of St James’ Park, the Aston Villa centre-half has been taken to a local hospital. Fingers crossed that his injury isn’t too bad.
70 min: Newcastle double-substitution: Harvey Barnes and Callum Wilsonm are on for Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak.
66 min: Bruno Guimaraes is booked for brandishing an imaginary yellow card in a bid to get Pau Torres booked for a foul on Sandro Tonali. I’m not sure that’s the imaginary yellow card Bruno had in mind when he appealed to Andy Madley’s better judgement. It’s nice to see this crackdown on player dissent and long may it continue.
64 min: Ollie Watkins jinks this way and that as he gallops into the Newcastle penalty area and his low drive is parried into the path of Matty Cash by Nick Pope. The Aston Villa full-back blazes the rebound high and wide when scoring looked easier. It’s a bad miss.
63 min: Aston Villa substitution: John McGinn makes way for Diego Carlos.
64 min: Now it’s Almiron’s chance to go close. His low shot fizzes between the legs of Matty Cash and is headed goalwards, but Martinez rescues his side again.
62 min: Isak almost notches up his hat-trick but is denied by a smart save from Martinez in a one-on-one with the Villa keeper.
60 min: That was an awful error from Konsa, who was in control of the ball and was headed for the corner flag but dithered, miscontrolled and allowed Isak to mug him. The neatly clipped finish into the far corner that followed was sublime.
GOAL! Newcastle 3-1 Aston Villa (Isak 58)
Newcastle extend their lead. Ezri Konsa rolls his foot over the top of the ball and allows Alexander Isak to rob him off possessino on the left side of the Villa penalty area. With a soft-shoe shuffle, he sits Martinez on his backside and dinks the ball over him to finish exquisitely.
56 min: Alexander Isak, looking preposterously offside, cuts inside from the left as several Villa players switch off and wait for the flag to go up and the whistle to be blown. Both things eventually happen but not before he’d taken a shot and brought a smart save out of Emi Martinez.
55 min: Villa corner. Lucas Digne arrows the ball towards the near post but Boubacar Kamara gets too much purchase on his header and sends it well wide. To borrow a phrase from Andy Townsend: If anything, Clive, he’s headed it too well.
52 min: In a tit-for-tat booking, Anthony Gordon gets cautioned for a lunge on Matty Cash. He brought the Villa full-back down without getting near the ball.
51 min: Gordon plays Almiron in behind with a beautifully weighted short pass. There’s too much weight on the subsequent cross and the ball eludes Isak, who was lurking with menacing intent in the Villa penalty area.
49 min: Correction: he becomes the fourth Villa player to be booked in this game.
48 min: Matty Cash is having a torrid evening of it trying to keep Anthony Gordon on a tight rein and is booked for fouling the Newcastle forward. He becomes the fifth Villa player to be booked in this game.
47 min: Tielemans first on-pitch action in a Villa shirt is to give the ball away as he tries to sweep it forward first time after receiving a pass.
Second half: Newcastle 2-1 Aston Villa
46 min: Newcastle get the second half under way and Aston Villa have made a change. Youri Tielemans is on for Leon Bailey, who appeared to be struggling with a back injury towards the end of the first half.
Half-time: Newcastle 2-1 Aston Villa
Andy Madley is booed by the denizens oif St James’ Park as he blows for half-time, the locals still unhappy that he didn’t send off Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez for what was quite clearly an offence only worthy of a caution. Interestingly but unsurprisdingly, Martinez’s post-foul finger-wag in the direction of the ref suggested he believed he’d done nothing wrong at all!
It’s been a half of … well, two halves’; one hi-octane, fast and furious in which Sandro Tonali fired Newcastle ahead before Moussa Diaby equalised for Villa. Alexander Isak restored Newcastle’s lead as the game bubbled along nicely, only for all “oomf” to be lost after Tyrone Mings was stretchered off after suffering what appeared to be an injury that was both freakish and serious.
45+8 min: Emi Martinez charges out of his goal towards the touchline chasing the same ball as Miguel Almiron. With unceremonious vigour, he takes out the Paraguayan and gets away with a booking because he didn’t prevent anything resembling a clear goal-scoring opportunity. Newcastle’s fans are unimpressed, as is Sven Botman, who also gets booked for flapping his gums.
45+7 min: Bruno is penalised for a nudge on Matty Cash and Villa have a free-kick about 35 yards from the Newcastle goal. Douglas Luiz plays the ball wide to Digne, who is unable to cross the ball before it crosses the byline.
45+6 min: Diaby runs directly towards the Newcastle penalty area and pings the ball forward to Watkins, who has his back to goal. As the Villa striker tries to turn, Dan Burn robs him of possession.
45+4 min: A promising move from Newcastle inspired by Kieran Trippier ends when Anthony Gordon miscontrols the ball out by the touchline and puts it out for a throw-in.
45+3 min: Leon Bailey triesd to send Diaby on his way down the right flank with a back-heel around the corner, but Dan Burn is on hand to intercept.
45 min: In his role as referee, Andy Madley seems to be in a needlessly fussy mood and is blowing for free-kicks at the slightest sign of contact between players. If this is part of a new refereeing directive, I can’t say I’m in favour of it and I doubt the players or fans are enamoured with it either.
We’ll have a minimum of 10 minutes of added time, most of it due to the lengthy period of time medics spent treating Tyrone Mings before removing him from the arena.
44 min: Diaby should have done better, there, as he was never likely to score with a shot to the near post. He could have squared the ball or at least tried to aim a shot towards the vast expanse of goal not being covered by Nick Pope.
42 min: The rhythm of the match is broken up by a series of niggly fouls from players on both sides. Moussa Diaby gets in behind the Newcastle defence after playing a give-and-go with Douglas Luiz but with plenty of goal to aim at, shoots straight into the side netting at the near post from an admittedly tight angle.
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