Newcastle United 1-0 Aston Villa

Aston Villa fell to a narrow defeat against Newcastle United at St James’ Park in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

A game of few chances was decided in the 35^th minute when Kieran Trippier’s free-kick deflected off the unfortunate Emiliano Buendía on its way in.

Villa had the ball in the net on the hour mark, but VAR intervened to rule out Ollie Watkins’ header.

Defeat extends the club’s 16-year wait for a win on Tyneside and leaves Steven Gerrard’s side 11^th in the table.

Ezri Konsa’s red card against Leeds United in midweek paved the way for Calum Chambers to make his first start for the club in the only change to the starting XI from the 3-3 draw.

The first 45 minutes at Villa Park on Wednesday had been full of free-flowing, attacking football, but the game on Tyneside was in complete contrast, with Joe Willock’s wayward effort the only shot from either side in the first 20 minutes.

Buoyed by putting together consecutive top-flight wins for the first time this season, Newcastle were coming forward with increasing menace as the half wore on and they were awarded a penalty when Chambers tripped the advancing Willock after 31 minutes.

A VAR review established contact had been made outside of the box and handed Villa a reprieve, but it was only temporary as the resulting free-kick struck Buendía on the thigh and skipped over Emi Martínez’s outstretched hand.

Soon after, Chris Wood fired over, opting not to pass to a surging Ryan Fraser who would have been clean through on goal, as the hosts looked to nab a second before Villa responded in the final minutes of the half.

John McGinn saw an effort deflected narrowly past the post and Tyrone Mings headed the resulting corner over as the visitors finished the first 45 minutes on a positive note.

Villa were noticeably fired up at the beginning of the second half, quickly going on the attack and seeing Watkins and Matty Cash go for goal.

The away side’s improvement coincided with more touches for Philippe Coutinho, who played a part in Villa finding the net as the game hit the hour mark.

A subtle flick from the Brazilian rolled into the path of Lucas Digne on the left and the full-back’s deflected cross was headed home by the waiting Watkins.

A lengthy delay ensued as VAR took a closer look before judging the striker’s foot to be inches offside when Digne’s cross was struck.

With just under 20 minutes to play, Danny Ings and Leon Bailey, who was making his first appearance since December, were introduced into the action.

The duo helped their side stay on top of the Magpies, but they were unable to unlock a stubborn Newcastle backline that held firm until the final whistle.