Player Ratings: Aston Villa 2-0 Newcastle United

Aston Villa spread their wings as they were well worth the three points and subsequently sending Newcastle home empty handed. In a match where Villa perhaps didn’t manage to reach top gear they were never particularly threatened by an unconvincing Newcastle United.

Emi Martínez: 8

A relatively quiet evening for the man between the sticks with the Argentine not being troubled by any real threat from the Newcastle front line. However, it was evident for all to see the goalkeeper still had a positive influence amongst the back line through his consistent communication handed out to the men in front of him seeing him through for his 9^th clean sheet this season, joint first with Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson having played two less games.

Matty Cash: 8

A night where both full backs probably spent the majority of the game in the attacking half of the pitch providing constant crosses into the Newcastle area. A solid evening from the right back with a particularly good pass completion rate feeding the midfield on multiple occasions.

Ezri Konsa: 9

A Rolls-Royce performance for the former Brentford man proving himself to be more than comfortable when finding himself up against Premier League opposition. He dealt with the physical presence of target man Andy Carroll frustrating the attacker and additionally dispossessing talisman Callum Wilson on multiple occasions.

Tyrone Mings: 8

Another good evening for the centre back with regards to his out and out defensive work with the Englishman putting his body on the line to block the efforts of the Newcastle players and helping himself to another vital clean sheet.

Matt Targett: 9

Another colossal display from the left back causing many Villa fans up and down to the country to stand up and take notice, after being revealed as one of the players who had previously suffered from Coronavirus, he has come back with arguably two man of the match performances in as many games. Impressive with the ball at his feet whilst also committing himself to many crunching slide tackles to win possession back. To top off an evening to remember for the full back he was the one who set the ball rolling with an impressive assist for Ollie Watkins to open the scoring.

Marvelous Nakamba: 8

With Dean Smith making one change from the defeat at Manchester City Marvelous saw himself named in the starting eleven in place of the suspended John McGinn. However, you wouldn’t have been mistaken to think Marvelous has been playing all season due to the impressive nature of which he slotted comfortably into the midfield alongside Douglas Luiz. Nakamba was effective in dispossessing the opposing midfield and looked to move the ball forward in a performance the Zimbabwean can take a lot of pride from.

Douglas Luiz: 7

A quiet outing from the Brazilian under the floodlights compared to his normal performance, later apologising to fans on social media for the number of times he gave away possession through unforced errors. However, it wasn’t to cost his side and he can hold his head up high.

Ross Barkley: 7

Another midfielder who endured a somewhat quiet evening after playing two games in quick succession after a long injury lay off. He is evidently still working towards being fully match fit subsequently seeing himself substituted late into the second half providing another game closer to full match sharpness.

Jack Grealish: 8

An enjoyable evening for the skipper helping himself to another assist to add to his season’s tally. A routine display by his standards, however he was not impressed to be substituted close to injury time probably due to only being one yellow card away from suspension.

Bertrand Traoré: 9

A convincing display from the winger terrorising the Newcastle backline with his free-flowing skills and close ball control. The wide man also capped off a great display by firing a rocket into the back of the net off the underside of the bar and ultimately scoring Villa’s last of the evening.

Ollie Watkins: 9

Ollie saw his goal drought fade away after a brave header up against the Newcastle goalkeeper to give his side the lead, he then later saw another cool, calm finish ruled out by the raising of the linesman’s flag. A night of non-stop running and perfectly executed hold up play showing everyone that he is a striker that has so much more to his game than just scoring goals.

Substitutes:

Jacob Ramsey: 6

Anwar El Ghazi: 7

Trézéguet: 7

By Sebastian Bacon

Full Match Report