Key events
25 min Loud cheers from the home fans as Joao Gomes is booked for a cynical foul on Fernandez-Pardo. There’s an edge to this game.
23 min Gonzalez wins the ball high up the field and gives it to Barnes, whose low cross is kicked behind by Lindelof. The corner ends in the hands of Suzuki
20 min Botman’s yellow card stands. On Sky Sports, Chris Sutton said he’s “very fortunate” to stay on the pitch.
18 min Joelinton and Botman are both booked for flying tackles in the space of a few seconds. The referee originally played the advantage, but stopped play when Botman wiped out Jackson (I think) with his studs showing. Botman’s challenge is being checked by VAR.
16 min At the other end, Manzambi flicks a terrific pass to the underlapping Cash, whose shot is deflected into the side netting. A goalkick is wrongly awarded.
15 min Hall finds the underlapping Willock, who hit the side netting from a near impossible angle. You’d usually expect a cross in that situation but I think he was trying to catch Suzuki out at the near post.
14 min Another good Villa break is thwarted by an excellent interception from Hall, who read and cut out Jackson’s attempted through pass to Alysson.
13 min Villa have had the best chance but Newcastle have most of the running early on.
9 min: Chance for Jackson! Villa break ruthlessly from a Newcastle corner, with Alysson waving a fine pass to put Jackson through on goal. At first Jackson shows excellent composure, turning away from the recovering Barnes on the edge of the area, but then he flicks a tame shot straight at Hornicek.
7 min Barnes cuts across the Villa defence and is about to shoot from the edge of the area when Kamara makes an excellent tackle. Newcastle have started on the front foot.
4 min Fernandez-Pardo runs at Wan-Bissaka and drives a dangerous low cross that just evades the stretching Willock in the middle. Lindelof makes an important clearance.
2 min In fact Newcastle have started with Fernandez-Pardo on the right and Willock in a more central position behind Wissa.
Newcastle (4-2-3-1) Hornicek; Miley, Thiaw, Botman, Hall; Gonzalez, Joelinton; Fernandez-Pardo, Willock, Barnes; Wissa.
1 min Peep peep! Villa kick off from left to right as we watch.
A reminder of the teams It looks like Joe Willock will play on the right wing for Newcastle, with Joelinton in midfield alongside Nico Gonzalez.
Newcastle (4-2-3-1) Hornicek; Miley, Thiaw, Botman, Hall; Gonzalez, Joelinton; Willock, Wissa, Barnes; Fernandez-Pardo.
Subs: Pope, Schar, Bamba, Osula, Steur, Toure, Murphy, Burn, Dedic.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1) Suzuki; Cash, Lindelof, Mings, Wan-Bissaka; Kamara, Joao Gomes; Alysson, Manzambi, Buendia; Jackson.
Subs: Harwood-Bellis, Barkley, McGinn, Pau Torres, Mbaye, Bogarde, Goretzka, Madjo, Bizot.
Referee Jarred Gillett.
Fulham 1-0 Hull
“Am I allowed to exhale all over your blog, simply because my partner is away and I have no other place to release my tension!” writes Richard Hirst.
“Third game in a row that Fulham have entered the final five minutes 1-0 up, and we all know what happened in the other two. Even today we mentioned to make a two zillion shots to four a nail biter. Still, we’re on our way; Europe here we come!”
I like that your question didn’t actually include a question mark. Exhale away!
“G’day Rob,” writes Chris Paraskevas. “Hope you’re well! Bit of a brutal turnaround for this match with a 3.30am kick off. I did manage to squeeze in an hour’s sleep, not that it’ll make a difference because he weather is getting warmer in Sydney, which means our old friend the neighbourhood parrot provides my daily alarm nice and early…anyway, *happy thoughts*…Xmas is on the horizon and I’ll feel more balanced once I’ve decided on its present.
“Back to business and the more PIF & MJ follow up calamitous defeats with the ‘vertical Football’ line, the more you wonder what they’re actually talking about? Is it part of a metaphor for the squad building mountain they need to climb? Does MJ want them to go ‘Up-N’-Under’ as per the cult 1998 Rugby League movie?
I don’t know, and I don’t even care – if it actually means Dan Burn, Sven Botman and Shola Ameobi form the front three today and we bulldoze / punt our way to victory, let’s just bloody win.
“HTL.”
Today’s Premier League results
And this is the updated table.
Unai Emery on rotating his Villa squad
The rotation is coming when the players are ready to play in our demands. This is the only difference. We made some changes on Wednesday after the match we played on Saturday.
Some players may be tired, some can feel some pain, not injuries but maybe pain. We need players to be 100%, not 80%.
Matthias Jaissle’s pre-match thoughts
The lads know they need to show a reaction, we need to show a reaction as a team and I’m optimistic we can do that at home. We are aware of what we are facing but at home, with our crowd at our backs, we can hurt every opponent.
[On Sean Steur] He’s knocking on the door due to his quality, he’s shown that in training sessions. This is a player who I believe will give us so much joy and fun in the future. But he needs time. He’s had ups and downs already this season. He should continue developing.
Team news
Joelinton replaces Jacob Murphy in the Newcastle team, the only change from their 4-1 defeat at Coventry on Monday. It’s his first start under Matthias Jaissle – he suffered a hamstring injury during pre-season.
Unai Emery continues to rotate his Villa squad. In come Joao Gomes, Emi Buendia, Tyrone Mings and Alysson. Out go Ross Barkley (who scored twice against Fenerbahce in the week), John McGinn, Pau Torres and Ibrahim Mbaye.
Newcastle (4-2-3-1) Hornicek; Miley, Thiaw, Botman, Hall; Gonzalez, Joelinton; Willock, Wissa, Barnes; Fernandez-Pardo.
Subs: Pope, Schar, Bamba, Osula, Steur, Toure, Murphy, Burn, Dedic.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1) Suzuki; Cash, Lindelof, Mings, Wan-Bissaka; Kamara, Joao Gomes; Alysson, Manzambi, Buendia; Jackson.
Subs: Harwood-Bellis, Barkley, McGinn, Pau Torres, Mbaye, Bogarde, Goretzka, Madjo, Bizot.
Referee Jarred Gillett.
Premier League latest
Louise Taylor
Newcastle’s latest attempt to play vertical football left Matthias Jaissle’s side horizontal at Coventry on Monday night. That 4-1 defeat has prompted quite an inquest on Tyneside, where Jaissle could do without his players falling flat on their faces once more when Aston Villa visit St James’ Park. Jaissle maintains that his vertical football is the brand of high-octane, aggressive attacking that Newcastle’s hierarchy believes should become the club’s default, and is the way fans want to see the team play.
That argument is not without validity but it is also worth remembering that, less than a decade ago, under Rafael Benítez’s charge, Newcastle often played a low block bolstered by three at the back, rarely took unnecessary risks and improved steadily. Admittedly resources were thinner then but the fans almost universally adored Benítez and were heartbroken when he eventually tired of Mike Ashley’s ownership and resigned.
Quite apart from making his dislike for chaotic football plain, the Spaniard was a realist who knew a gung-ho approach would spell relegation. Granted, tactical fashions have changed, but Jaissle could do worse than slow things down a bit and search for his inner Rafa against Villa.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Newcastle v Aston Villa at St James’ Park. Both aspire to Champions League football – Villa are in it this this season – so it’s slightly incongruous to see them both in the bottom half of the table.
Newcastle have had a mixed start under Matthias Jaissle and were plugged 4-1 at Coventry on Monday. After a miserable, goalless beginning to the season, a hastily rebuilt Villa have started to stir and thrashed Fenerbahce 6-0 in midweek.
We’re less than a sixth of the way through the Premier League season, so there’s plenty of time for Newcastle and Villa to progress towards the mean. A win tonight would be a good place to start.
Kick off 5.30pm.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/oct/17/newcastle-v-aston-villa-premier-league-live
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