Aston Villa responded to their Champions League heartbreak in the best possible fashion, thrashing high-flying Newcastle United 4-1 at a raucous Villa Park to keep their top-four ambitions firmly on track.
Just four days after narrowly bowing out of Europe in a pulsating quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain, Unai Emery’s men bounced back with a statement win that left no doubt about their hunger to return to the elite competition next season.
Newcastle arrived on a six-game winning streak, but they were stunned inside 33 seconds when Ollie Watkins pounced on a poor clearance from Sandro Tonali. The England striker latched onto Youri Tielemans’ pass, and his low shot deflected off Fabian Schar, wrong-footing Nick Pope to give Villa the perfect start.
Watkins, left out of the starting XI against PSG, looked determined to prove a point. He came agonizingly close to doubling his tally twice before halftime first with a thundering left-footed drive that rattled the crossbar and then with a bullet header that struck the post.
Despite the early dominance, Villa were pegged back in the 18th minute when Harvey Barnes floated a cross to the far post, where Schar rose to nod home an equalizer through Emiliano Martinez’s legs. A yellow card for Schar moments earlier when many at Villa Park called for a red after he brought down Watkins—only added fuel to the home crowd’s fire.
But Villa never lost their grip. They continued to press with intensity, and after the break, their pressure paid off. In the 64th minute, Marco Asensio’s brilliant cross-field pass was followed by a clever assist from Watkins, setting up Ian Maatsen’s composed finish for his first Premier League goal.
Emery’s substitutions then turned the game into a rout. Jacob Ramsey, just a minute after coming on, sent in a low cross that deflected off Dan Burn and into the net for 3-1. Another substitute, Amadou Onana, hammered home a fourth just two minutes later a blistering strike into the top corner from the edge of the area.
It was Villa’s sixth straight home win in all competitions, each with at least two goals, matching a scoring run not seen since January 1990. Watkins was at the heart of everything, taking his Premier League goal tally for Villa to 74 tying Gabriel Agbonlahor as the club’s all-time top scorer in the competition.
With the win, Villa moved up to sixth in the Premier League on 57 points level with fifth-placed Nottingham Forest and just two behind third-placed Newcastle. With a huge clash against Manchester City looming on Tuesday, Villa are now in the thick of a thrilling race for Champions League qualification.
For Newcastle, it was a sobering end to their recent momentum and a reminder that without head coach Eddie Howe still recovering from pneumonia they remain vulnerable. Emery’s side, meanwhile, looks more determined than ever to rejoin Europe’s elite.
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