Aston Villa swat Newcastle aside to boost their Champions League hopes

Aston Villa put their Champions League disappointment behind them with an emphatic 4-1 win against in-form Newcastle as Unai Emery’s men continued their bid to return to European football’s top table in style.

Four days on from falling agonisingly short in a pulsating quarter-final clash with Paris St Germain, Villa Park rocked once again as the third-placed Magpies saw their six-match winning run in all competitions come to a shuddering halt.

Ollie Watkins opened the scoring 33 seconds into Saturday’s entertaining encounter and Villa reacted well after Fabian Schar avoided a red card and then levelled.

Ian Maatsen’s second-half strike put the hosts on course for a potentially vital victory which was wrapped up thanks to Emery’s inspired double substitution.

Jacob Ramsey saw a low cross deflected in off Dan Burn and fellow replacement Amadou Onana lashed home the goal of a breathless game shortly after as absent Eddie Howe watched Newcastle stumble for the first time under stand-in Jason Tindall.

Villa sit sixth after Saturday’s statement victory, cutting the gap to third-placed Newcastle to two points as attention turns to Tuesday’s trip to Manchester City and their FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace.

Emery made four changes from Tuesday’s energy-sapping 3-2 second leg win against PSG and Watkins immediately justified his return.

Youri Tielemans collected a clearance from Sandro Tonali under pressure from Watkins, who was found by the Villa midfielder and cut away from Schar before hitting a low strike which went in off the Newcastle defender.

It was a dream start which nearly improved in the fifth minute as Villa’s striker followed a confident run with a fizzing effort that rattled the crossbar.

Watkins was at the heart of everything and Schar hauled down the flying frontman as he tried to meet a clipped Ezri Konsa ball from the back in the 13th minute.

Villa Park raged as referee Jarred Gillett showed yellow rather than red, with their anger only growing five minutes later.

Emery’s men half cleared a free-kick and allowed Harvey Barnes time to send over a cross from the left to the far post, where Schar squeezed a header through Emiliano Martinez’s legs.

Villa quickly attempted to bounce back from that setback, with Marco Asensio somehow failing to cleanly connect with a cross before sending over a free-kick that Watkins met with a thumping header off the post.

Newcastle eventually settled and Tonali saw a skipping strike from distance denied by Martinez, with opposite number Nick Pope thwarting Morgan Rogers before Watkins saw a penalty appeal against Schar ignored.

Villa flew out of the traps after half-time, with John McGinn and Rogers knocking on the door and Tielemans seeing an attempt cleared by Tonali.

Ineffective Alexander Isak saw a low shot saved by Martinez as Newcastle looked to kickstart their performance in a game that the hosts went back ahead in after 64 minutes.

Quick incisive play ended with Watkins slipping in overlapping Maatsen to slam home in front of the Holte End.

Emery turned to his bench as he sought to tip the scales in Villa’s favour and his 72nd-minute introductions proved inspired.

A minute later substitute Ramsey saw a driven cross deflect in off Burn’s heel, with fellow introduction Onana adding further gloss in the 75th minute.

Rogers was denied by Pope, but Villa kept the ball alive and the England international laid back for the substitute to slam into the top left-hand corner from the edge of the box.

Ramsey hit the woodwork as Villa continued an ultimately fruitless hunt for a fifth.