Ahmed Elmohamady’s late header rescued a point for Aston Villa at Newcastle, but it was not enough to lift Dean Smith’s relegation-threatened side out of the Premier League’s bottom three.

The Egyptian stooped low to divert his effort into the net from a corner just six minutes after coming on as a substitute, shortly after Dwight Gayle’s goal for Newcastle had looked like giving United the points.

Gayle’s impact was even more immediate than that of El Mohamady, with his neatly-taken finish coming just a minute after he was introduced for the injured Matt Ritchie.

Villa’s point is reward for a first half in which they were the more positive of the two sides, and also their determination not to allow themselves to sink to another damaging defeat.

It may not take them out of the relegation zone but it will be a boost after they were denied by Sheffield United in their first game after the restart and allowed Chelsea to come back to beat them on Sunday.

Newcastle are now just a point shy of the 40-point mark - often cited as the tally required to ward off the threat of relegation.

It has been a frustrating return for Villa.

The repeated failure of their relegation rivals to pick up points has presented the opportunity for them to claw their way out of the bottom three, but although they have come close, they have not been able to find that elusive win.

Granted, they benefited from a failure of technology in their home draw against Sheffield United but having done so could easily have taken three points as opposed to one.

They then almost burgled a win against Chelsea on Sunday, taking the lead despite having precious little of the ball, before the Blues rallied to turn the game their way.

This, though, is a timely boost, reminding them that they can mix it with some of the top-flight’s most stubborn sides and may yet well edge themselves ahead of a faltering pack of sides above them.

They should have led in the first half, but Trezeguet and Mbwana Samatta both spurned chances on their return to the side.

The best fell to the former, who hit his back-post effort into the ground and over after being found by a superb cross from Ezri Konsa.

Newcastle’s goal could have been a hammer blow, but in the end it was the home side hanging on.

Newcastle produced arguably one the finest displays of the first initial round of games back, winning 3-0 at home against an admittedly under-par Sheffield United, who played for 40 minutes with 10 men.

Everything that could have gone right for the Magpies did in that game and it looked like that form was going to continue on Wednesday, as misfortune in the shape of Ritchie’s injury immediately turned into a positive courtesy of Gayle’s tidy finish.

Before then, the home side had battled hard but were too reliant on the creative pair of Miguel Almiron and Allan Saint-Maximin, who threatened in flashes but failed to produce anything decisive.

After breaking his 27 game and 10 month drought on Sunday, Joelinton could have added another league strike to his meagre tally of two, but Tyrone Mings denied him with a superb challenge in the box.

Elmohamady’s goal is a setback, ending a run of three successive clean sheets, but only a minor one for a side that have already exceeded many critics’ expectations this season.

Bruce was asked after the game if would have taken 39 points at this stage of the campaign if offered it at the beginning. His positive answer will be a surprise to nobody.
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*The Guardian*
*Wednesday, 24 June 2020*

Aston Villa’s Elmohamady heads in to salvage precious draw at Newcastle

Ahmed Elmohamady and Steve Bruce go back a long way. The Egypt right-back has been signed by Newcastle’s manager at three clubs and some on Tyneside were surprised he did not follow his mentor to the north-east last summer.

Instead, Elmohamady stayed put at Aston Villa and on Wednesday night he bit the hand that once fed him by heading Conor Hourihane’s splendidly whipped-in corner beyond Martin Dubravka, arguably at fault, to earn Villa a potentially vital point in their bid to avoid relegation.

In cancelling out Dwight Gayle’s opener, he also denied an old friend the chance to properly get his own back. Revenge comes in many forms and, true to his essentially affable, largely forgiving, character, Bruce sought a rather gentlemanly form of attrition against the club that sacked him almost two years ago. Before kick-off Newcastle’s manager and his assistant, Steve Agnew, were seen laughing and joking with Dean Smith, Jack Grealish and John McGinn but no one was deceived entirely.

Villa had ignored Premier League advice to fly to games on the morning of games and instead took off from Birmingham airport on Tuesday lunchtime, enjoying an overnight hotel stay on Tyneside.

The rest seemed to have done them good as Trézéguet’s early half-volley flew off target after his connection with Ezra Konsa’s gorgeous delivery.

When Konsa subsequently curled another fine cross in Mbwana Samatta’s direction, the striker should have headed Villa into a deserved lead, but Samatta appeared fractionally slow to react and his sub-standard flick flew well wide, leaving Newcastle reprieved.

On a still and unusually warm summer night Grealish, Konsa, Tyrone Mings and company looked anything but relegation candidates. Fluency personified, they left the home side chasing the early-evening shadows.

Every Villa pass seemed to come with incision and precision and Mings commanded his defence with authority to leave even a free spirit in the mould of Allan Saint-Maximin cowtowing and conforming.

More than a little one-paced, Newcastle underwhelmed until late in the first period when, most notably Saint-Maximin, they finally began to show signs of emerging from hibernation.

Until Mings showed his class courtesy of a splendid, possibly goal-preventing tackle on Joelinton, they had their fair share of possession but failed to do too much with it.

Indeed, Newcastle’s biggest opportunity arrived when, with half-time fast approaching and Jonjo Shelvey shaping to take a free kick, Douglas Luiz’s arguably looked to have butted Jamaal Lascelles as the players jostled. A lengthy VAR review ensued and the verdict was a yellow card.

Ørjan Nyland was finally called to early second-half arms to divert Matt Ritchie’s stinging shot. If much of the home side’s passing remained a little incoherent, Villa’s earlier gloss had faded.

As the breeze picked up Joelinton was replaced by Andy Carroll. Could the finally fully-fit striker - set to sign a new one-year deal - whip up the wind of change his side needed?

Just to be on the safe side Bruce also introduced a Gayle - Dwight in place of Ritchie, as he sought to tilt the power balance.

Talk about an inspired pair of substitutions. Gayle had barely been on the pitch a minute when his low, angled, right-foot shot passed through Nyland’s legs to give Newcastle the lead. Mings, for once, was confounded by Carroll’s clever curved pass. No wonder Bruce - who is probably now ruing not recruiting Elmohamady for a fourth time - wants to keep him and Gayle.