Newcastle vs Aston Villa 0-1

Aston Villa left St James' Park with a 1-0 win after Johan Manzambi's first-half goal settled a tight contest. Newcastle pushed for an equaliser and Aston Villa held on to the end.

The only goal of the first half came in the 36th minute, when Johan Manzambi finished from João Gomes to put Aston Villa 1-0 up. That was the score at half-time.

Newcastle sent on Bazoumana Touré and William Osula in the 56th minute as they tried to change the game, while Aston Villa made three changes on 72 minutes, including Johan Manzambi coming off after scoring and João Gomes being replaced by Ross Barkley. The visitors then saw out the closing stages, with John McGinn coming on for Alysson Edward Franco da Rocha at half-time and Pau Torres replacing Aaron Wan-Bissaka on 77 minutes. Newcastle never found the equaliser and were left with the frustration of William Osula's yellow card on 78 minutes and Malick Thiaw's booking on 86 minutes.

The numbers were close in several areas. Aston Villa had 51% of the ball to Newcastle's 49 and made 431 passes to 401, while Newcastle had the greater shot count at 16 to 15. Villa were ahead on shots on target, 3-1, and on expected goals, 1.56 to 1.13. They also had five corners to Newcastle's four, while Newcastle were caught offside five times and Villa none. Newcastle made two saves to Villa's one and gave away 14 fouls to Villa's 11.

Discipline was busy, especially for Newcastle, who collected six yellow cards. Joelinton and Sven Botman were booked in the 18th minute, Nico González on 53 minutes, Yoane Wissa on 55 minutes, William Osula on 78 minutes and Malick Thiaw on 86 minutes. Aston Villa were shown two yellow cards, for João Gomes on 25 minutes and Alysson Edward Franco da Rocha on 28 minutes.