Referee Anthony Taylor may have brought the first half to a close, but this Boxing Day bout between Newcastle United and Aston Villa was just getting under way. Following a spiky opening 45 minutes, where Jhon Duran saw red and Aston Villa manager Unai Emery vented at Jason Tindall, tensions spilled over as players and staff squeezed through the narrow tunnel at St James’ Park.
The result? Tindall, the Newcastle assistant, did not emerge for the second half. Nor did Aston Villa analyst Victor Manas for that matter after the pair were sent off. When asked about what happened, following his team’s 3-0 defeat, Emery simply said: “Nothing more.”
An eyewitness described it as a 20-man melee and there were a host of players and staff from both sides attempting to drag people away from the scuffle. Eddie Howe was right up at the top, so did not see what happened in the sea of bodies behind him, but the Newcastle boss stressed ‘sometimes you have to stand up to what you think is right and protect each other’. “If you’re going to send him [Tindall] off, you could probably send 10 to 15 people off,” he tellingly added.
Newcastle certainly stood up for themselves on Boxing Day – not just in the tunnel. When Duran stamped on Fabian Schar, a red-card offence which ignited a niggly contest after the half-hour mark, Martin Dubravka was quick to shove the Colombia international. Joelinton gave the striker a piece of his mind. Dan Burn pointed a finger.
It brought back one or two memories. Togetherness and fighting spirit were at the heart of Newcastle’s fourth-placed finish in 2023. Those qualities were needed once again on an afternoon Newcastle leapfrogged both Aston Villa and champions Manchester City in the table and moved up to fifth place thanks to goals from Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak and Joelinton.
To think Newcastle were lying in the bottom half just a few weeks ago. However, rather than hammering his players after a 4-2 defeat at Brentford, Howe felt they needed support. Tweaks were made and Newcastle have grown in confidence, and looked more like their relentless selves following a run of four successive wins in all competitions.
The numbers tell their own story in that regard. In the last three league games, alone, Howe’s team have bagged 11 goals and kept three clean sheets. It is a real platform to build from and just five points separate Newcastle and third-placed Nottingham Forest as we approach the halfway point of the campaign.
It represents quite a turnaround. Anthony Gordon remarked Newcastle were ‘nearly men’ last month. On Boxing Day, the England international declared “We’re not nearly men anymore.”
Gordon, in the same interview, told NUFC TV that Newcastle had to keep going because ‘this game doesn’t matter anymore’ – and no one will be getting carried away. It said it all that Howe immediately went home to watch the 3-0 win back to see where Newcastle could improve ahead of the trip to Old Trafford on Monday night. That is an ominous prospect for a Manchester United side who have suffered back-to-back defeats against Wolves and Bournemouth.
After all, Newcastle only needed 75 seconds to open the scoring against Aston Villa. The opener came about after Sandro Tonali nipped in to win the ball from Boubacar Kamara just inside Newcastle’s half and Bruno Guimaraes sent Joelinton rampaging forward. As Aston Villa defenders back peddled, Joelinton picked out Anthony Gordon. The England international cut inside before unleashing a rocket past Emiliano Martinez to send St James’ into raptures.
Aston Villa came back into it, but the visitors ultimately only had one shot on target the whole game – and that was from a set-piece midway through the first half when Lucas Digne’s free-kick was parried by Martin Dubravka. Matty Cash could only blaze the follow up over the bar.
That was how close Aston Villa came to scoring with 11 men. It was not about to get any easier with 10.
There were 32 minutes on the clock when Amadou Onana sent Jhon Duran and Fabian Schar on a footrace. Schar got there first, clearing the ball into touch with a well-time sliding tackle, only for Duran to stamp on the Newcastle defender as the Colombia international fell to the turf. Referee Anthony Taylor brandished a red card.
Aston Villa were left shell-shocked and Youri Tielemans was literally shook off the ball by Bruno Guimaraes just outside the visitors’ box before half-time. The Brazil international squared the ball to Tonali, whose first-time effort was tipped wide by Martinez.
Newcastle continued to knock on the door after the break and the Magpies doubled their lead after the hour mark. Bruno slipped Jacob Murphy in with a superb through ball with the outside of his boot and the winger’s cross was tapped home by Isak.
Newcastle were not satisfied with two, though. The hosts pushed for another goal and, at one point, Aston Villa could not even get out of their own half. Martinez played the ball straight to Joelinton midway through the second half and although Amadou Onana recovered to make the block, the ball fell to Murphy, who rattled the crossbar.
Newcastle’s tails were up. Tonali’s clever reverse pass played Lewis Hall in down the left late on and the defender’s cross was knocked back across by substitute Harvey Barnes at the back post. Ezri Konsa cleared off the line, but the ball cannoned off the back of Bruno and into the net. VAR intervened, to chalk off the goal for a handball, but Newcastle finally grabbed a third at the death.
Onana played a tired pass straight to Joelinton and Aston Villa defenders backed off, almost beckoning the midfielder to shoot. Joelinton took up the offer – lashing the ball into the net to make it 3-0. By that stage, Aston Villa were out for the count.
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