Perfection

🟩 25 Jan 2026 Villa 2-0 Newcastle, St James’

Perfection 2 to 27 and all along the touchline.

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Full Match Report: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/game/5814

Line Ups

Scorer(s)

Scorer(s): Emiliano Buendía | 19’ | Ollie Watkins | 88’ |

Assist(s): Morgan Rogers | 19’ | Lucas Digne | 88’ |

Starting XI

GK Emiliano Martínez | 🇦🇷 |

RB Matty Cash | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇵🇱 |

CB Pau Torres | 🇪🇸 | 🔁

CB Ezri Konsa | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

LB Ian Maatsen | 🇳🇱 | 🟨

DM Amadou Onana | 🇧🇪 | 🔁

CM Youri Tielemans | 🇧🇪 | 🚑 🔁

AM Morgan Rogers | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔥

AM Emiliano Buendía | 🇦🇷 | ⚽ 🔁

LW Jadon Sancho | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 🔁

CF Ollie Watkins | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | ⚽

Substitutes

🔁 | RW Leon Bailey | 🇯🇲 | for LW Jadon Sancho | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 59’ |

🔁 | DM Lamare Bogarde | 🇳🇱 | for CM Youri Tielemans | 🇧🇪 | 74’ |

🔁 | CB Tyrone Mings | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | for CB Pau Torres | 🇪🇸 | 75’ |

🔁 | LB Lucas Digne | 🇫🇷 | 🟨 🔥 for AM Emiliano Buendía | 🇦🇷 | 75’ |

🔁 | CB Victor Lindelöf | 🇸🇪 | for DM Amadou Onana | 🇧🇪 | 89’ |

Unused Substitutes

GK Marco Bizot | 🇳🇱 |

M George Hemmings | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

AM Harvey Elliott | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 |

W Evann Guessand | 🇨🇮 |

First Half Timeline

⚽ 19’ Goal! 1-0, Emiliano Buendía, Assist by Morgan Rogers

[🟨] 27’ Booking, Joelinton, Bad Foul

🕒 45’+5 HT Newcastle United 0-1 Aston Villa

Half-Time Comment

We witnessed something incredible there in that first half, no not Villa taking the lead at St James' Park, but Joelinton ACTUALLY being booked early for one of his typical cynical fouls. Changing times.

Second Half Timeline

🔁 59’ Sub off, Jadon Sancho, Sub on, Leon Bailey

🚑 70’ Youri Tielemans injured on the field of play after a cynical challenge

🕒 71’ Play restarts

🔁 74’ Sub off, Youri Tielemans (injury), Sub on Lamare Bogarde

🔁 75’ Sub off, Pau Torres, Sub on, Tyrone Mings

🔁 75’ Sub off, Emiliano Buendía, Sub on, Lucas Digne

🟨 79’ Booking, Lucas Digne, Bad Foul

⚽ 88’ Goal! 2-0, Ollie Watkins, Assist by Lucas Digne

🔁 89’ Sub off, Amadou Onana, Sub on, Victor Lindelöf

🟨 90’+2 Booking, Ian Maatsen, Shirt Pull

🕒 90’+8 HT Newcastle United 0-2 Aston Villa

Full-Time Comment

Perfection 2 to 27 and all along the touchline.

League Table

Officials Game Rating

Referee: Jarred Gillett | 🇦🇺 | Queensland, 2019- Game Rating: 7/10

VAR: John Brooks | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | Leicestershire, 2022-

Game Rating: 7/10

The Boss

Unai Emery | 🇪🇸 | Hondarribia, 2022-

🕒 172 | 🟩 | 97 🟨 | 30 🟥 45 | 1.87

Unai Emery 🇪🇸 secures his 40th away win in 88 games, unbeaten in 65% of fixtures played on the road.

Unai Emery 🇪🇸 Highest Win percentage achieved across all competitions: 56.40%

Closest Rival: 1886-26 George Ramsay 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Management Committee 49.55%

1982-84 Tony Barton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Highest Home Win percentage achieved across all competitions: 70.59%

Closest Rival: Unai Emery 🇪🇸 67.06%

Unai Emery 🇪🇸 Highest Away Win percentage achieved across all competitions: 46.51%

Closest Rival: 2006-10 Martin O'Neill 🇬🇧 40.63%

Unai Emery 🇪🇸 Highest Premier League Win percentage achieved 54.84%

Closes Rival: 1998-02 John Gregory 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 41.22%

Unai Emery 🇪🇸 Highest League Win percentage achieved 54.84%

Closest Rival: 1886-26 George Ramsay 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Management Committee 48.14%

Unai Emery 🇪🇸 Highest Top Flight League Win percentage achieved 54.84%

Closest Rival: 1886-26 George Ramsay 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Management Committee 48.14%

1886-26 George Ramsay 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Management Committee Highest FA Cup Win percentage achieved, leading the club 5 or more times in the competition, 62.50%

Closest Rival: Unai Emery 🇪🇸 60.00%

Unai Emery 🇪🇸 Highest European Win percentage achieved, leading the club 5 or more times in European competition 65.63%

Closest Rival: 1974-82 Ron Saunders | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | 50.00%

Unai Emery 🇪🇸 Highest European Cup / Champions League Win percentage achieved, leading the club 5 or more times in the competition, 66.67%

Closest Rival: 1982-84 Tony Barton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 54.55%

Unai Emery 🇪🇸 Lowest Loss percentage suffered across all competitions 26.16%

Closest Rival: 2006-10 Martin O'Neill 🇬🇧 26.32%

1958-64 Joe Mercer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Highest Post War Average Goals per Game Scored across all competitions 1.73

Closest Rival: Unai Emery 🇪🇸 1.71

On This Day

Harvey Elliott 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his first Premier League squad appearance for Villa since 19 October.

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/harvey-elliott

Emiliano Martínez 🇦🇷 makes his 200th Premier League appearance for Villa.

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/emiliano-mart%C3%ADnez

Matty Cash 🇵🇱 makes his 185th start for Villa.

Matty Cash 🇵🇱 makes his 130th appearance Unai Emery 🇪🇸.

Matty Cash 🇵🇱 makes his 170th Premier League appearance for Villa.

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/matty-cash

Ian Maatsen 🇳🇱 makes his 70th appearance for Villa.

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/ian-maatsen

Ezri Konsa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 260th start for Villa.

Ezri Konsa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 215th Premier League start for Villa.

Ezri Konsa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 155th appearance Unai Emery 🇪🇸.

Ezri Konsa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 secures his 130th win for Villa.

Ezri Konsa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 secures his 90th win under Unai Emery 🇪🇸.

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/ezri-konsa

Youri Tielemans 🇧🇪 makes his 85th Premier League appearance for Villa.

Youri Tielemans 🇧🇪 secures his 70th win for Villa

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/youri-tielemans

Emiliano Buendía 🇦🇷 makes his 60th Premier League start for Villa.

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/emiliano-buend%C3%ADa

Jadon Sancho 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 20th appearance for Villa.

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/jadon-sancho

Ollie Watkins 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 165th appearance Unai Emery 🇪🇸.

Ollie Watkins 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 contributes his 135th goal involvement in a Villa shirt.

Ollie Watkins 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 equals Ken McNaught’s 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 207 appearances for Villa.

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/ollie-watkins

Lucas Digne 🇫🇷 makes his 165th appearance for Villa.

Lucas Digne 🇫🇷 makes his 140th appearance Unai Emery 🇪🇸.

Lucas Digne 🇫🇷 contributes his 25th goal involvement in a Villa shirt.

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/lucas-digne

Tyrone Mings 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 secures his 85th win for Villa.

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/tyrone-mings

Leon Bailey 🇯🇲 makes his 50th substitute appearance for Villa.

Leon Bailey 🇯🇲 equals Kevin Gage’s 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 145th appearances for Villa.

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/leon-bailey

George Hemmings 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 makes his 10th unused substitute appearance for Villa.

Full Player Profile: https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/player/george-hemmings

Scenes

What they said

"I think mainly really to compete well, be strong and fight in every duel for the ball. We haven't had success in this stadium for a while and we knew how difficult they make it for opponents. We fought for every ball and had the patience with the ball.

"It's a tough schedule for us but it is what we want to do, play in European competitions and fight for these places in the Premier League so we have to adapt, fight and play and recover and go again. I am really proud of this team. we made a huge effort on Thursday and again today.

"We have to look to be there and fight until the end. We know what we want to achieve, fighting for the Champions League spots. To score is always a nice feeling but the main thing is to help the team. To open the game with that kind of goal helps the momentum of the game turn in our favour. I am really happy and we deserved the three points"

Emiliano Buendía

"It is a really difficult place to come and the momentum they get from their fans.

"I think we got the gameplan spot on today. We didn't play in front of them, we just played in behind and I don't think they were prepared for that. I feel like it was a strong performance from us and I think we could have won the game by a lot more.

"I've had some shocking performances here so it was nice to break the duck and perform individually and as a team. It is massive for us and it is a nice feeling. We had a bad result against Everton, so to bounce back and get three points on the road against Newcastle, it's big, so we're really happy."

Ollie Watkins

“It was blustery and windy.”

Eddie Howe

"I am so, so happy. The players were extraordinary. We spoke about this match and the difficulties some teams have with their level here. It is the highest level we can face this season and the players respond fantastic.

"The commitment to the fans... being so disciplined individually and collectively got us through it. We can only helped the players tactically. Out on the field they need to show the attitude and commitment to work to the game plan and they did it.

"Emiliano Martinez played a fantastic match. He focused on the match and his character, skills and commitment...because we need every player...really fantastic.

"Last week we lost and were so disappointed but we can be calm again and have confidence. We were comfortable in what we were doing."

Unai Emery

The Last Word