Newcastle United 0-1 Aston Villa

Aston Villa stretched their unbeaten run to five matches at St. James’ Park on Saturday evening, with a hard-earned 1-0 win over Newcastle United.

Johan Manzambi’s first-half header did the damage for Unai Emery’s men, who secured a fourth successive away win in all competitions, triumphing on consecutive visits to Tyneside for the first time since the 1957/58 season.

The victory also brought up a personal milestone for Emery, who recorded his 100th win in the Premier League – 75 of these coming in charge of Villa.  

Emery made four changes from Wednesday’s emphatic 6-0 victory at home to Fenerbahçe in the UEFA Champions League. Alysson came in for his first Villa start, and was joined in the XI by Emi Buendía, João Gomes and Tyrone Mings – who wore the captain’s armband.

The Brazilian was one of the visitors’ attacking threats throughout an open first half-hour, during which the momentum swung from one end to another. Nine minutes were on the clock when he carved out the first chance of the encounter, bursting forward and finding Nicolas Jackson who turned neatly away from Harvey Barnes but could only poke his effort at Lukáš Horníček.

The Villans were slowly looking to turn the screw and gain the initiative, with Alysson, Jackson, Manzambi and Buendía all looking dangerous in transition.

And, after Joe Willock had fired into the side-netting at the other end, Matthias Jaissle’s side escaped as Joelinton and Sven Botman went in with strong challenges on Manzambi and Jackson respectively, with both only booked for their offences despite a brief VAR check.

The half-hour mark approached, and Villa were getting stronger. The away side countered again, with Manzambi feeding Jackson, though after cutting inside, his effort was deflected behind for a corner.

Seven minutes later, though, the Villans would make their pressure pay, breaking the deadlock when Gomes swung a teasing ball into the centre for an unmarked Manzambi, who nodded into the bottom corner for his third goal in four games.

Two minutes later, and things had almost got even better for the travelling faithful behind the opposite goal. Jackson pulled the ball back for Buendía who looked destined to score, but instead saw his effort turned onto the foot of the post by a Newcastle leg, agonisingly rolling out and away to safety.

Villa had to remain alert at the other end, with Zion Suzuki well positioned to deny Barnes from close range, but the half-time whistle sounded shortly after to bring the opening period to a close with Emery’s charges in front.

Emery introduced captain John McGinn in place of Alysson at the break as he hoped his experience could guide the Villans to another three points.

And it was the Tyneside outfit who began the second period on top, as they looked to try and turn the tide in their favour. Within a minute of the restart, Barnes had seen an effort deflected wide, before three minutes later, Suzuki pulled off a brilliant stop to claw away Botman’s snapshot on the turn.

Villa were coping well with the advances of the Magpies, who had introduced Will Osula and Bazoumana Touré from the bench in an attempt to give them more attacking impetus. The latter floated a ball into the centre on 64 minutes, but Yoane Wissa could only head over.

At the other end, Villa remained a threat on the counter, and their pursuit of a crucial second goal still carried legs – Matty Cash lashing a half-volley over from distance with a quarter of the affair remaining, after McGinn’s corner had only been partially cleared.

Ross Barkley, Ibrahim Mbaye and Leon Goretzka were all brought on 20 minutes from time, the latter making his Premier League debut, and there was almost an instant impact from Barkley who – fresh from his brace at Villa Park in midweek – saw a stinging half-volley from the edge of the area tipped behind by Horníček.

Things were made difficult for the Villans as the game ticked into the final 10 minutes, with their fifth and final substitution being used to bring on Pau Torres in place of the injured Aaron Wan-Bissaka, meaning Tyrone Mings was forced to complete the match at left-back.

And seven minutes from time, they came within inches of securing the points, when McGinn found Barkley who shifted the ball onto Mbaye, but his effort from an angle fizzed inches over.

Six minutes of added time were indicated when Mbaye came closer still to rounding off the evening’s work, dancing into the area and rolling a shot agonisingly wide. But it mattered little to the Villans, who saw out the remainder of the affair with both grit and composure to put three points on the board ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League visit of Viking.