Newcastle United began their Premier League season with a superb 5-1 win at home to Aston Villa on Saturday.
Debut goals for the Magpies’ Sandro Tonali and the Villans’ Moussa Diaby early in the day set the tone for what turned out to be frantic and entertaining encounter at St James’ Park.
Alexander Isak scored twice to take the game away from the visitors before Callum Wilson and Harvey Barnes emerged from the bench to add the finishing touches.
How the game unfolded
Newcastle took the lead with their first meaningful attack after six minutes. Bruno Guimaraes saw a shot from 20 yards pushed out by Emi Martinez, but Anthony Gordon was able to retrieve possession, play a neat-one two with Joelinton to get back around Leon Bailey and cross for Tonali to poke home from close range.
The Italian nearly added a second in the next 60 seconds after the hosts won the ball back and broke with pace, but this time Martinez denied him.
From the resulting corner, Aston Villa carved out their first real chance. Tyrone Mings pounced on a loose ball back into the box and set Diaby racing away, but the all-action Gordon managed to put him off enough and narrow the angle, with Nick Pope producing a comfortable save at the near post.
With just 11 minutes on the clock, Diaby did have his debut goal. Douglas Luiz found John McGinn high on the left wing with an exquisite outside-of-the-boot pass, and the Scot’s cross was nodded on by Ollie Watkins and into the path of Diaby to lash in.
A back-and-forth contest early doors swung back the way of Newcastle rather quickly, with the hosts re-taking the lead after a quarter of an hour. Tonali’s long ball over the top from a quick free-kick was flicked back across the box by Sven Botman and into the path of Isak, who made no mistake from 12 yards.
Just before the break, Diaby’s neat give-and-go with Luiz saw him penetrate a sleeping Newcastle backline, but instead of crossing or aiming for the far post, the Frenchman fired into the side-netting and the chance went begging.
The hosts wanted Martinez to receive a red card when he hauled down Miguel Almiron way outside his box and over on the right-hand channel, with the Argentine goalkeeper being spared his marching orders and only picking up a yellow.
Newcastle should have notched a third on the other side of half-time. Miguel Almiron skipped through midfield and was then set around the back of Cash by Gordon, only to overhit the cross for the waiting Isak in the middle.
Isak was able to get a shot away when he out-muscled Ezri Konsa to meet a long ball over the top from Dan Burn, and though he stung the palms of Martinez with a fierce strike, the offside flag was belatedly raised.
Not to be deterred, the Swede did add a third moments later, again robbing Konsa of possession and then dinking Martinez.
Villa were caving in and were fortunate not to have conceded a fourth when the long legs of Isak once more broke the offside trap, again relying on Martinez to bail them out with a fine save.
The visitors should have pulled one back just after the hour mark. Diaby stole the ball off Almiron and slipped through Watkins, sitting Botman on his backside and seeing a powerful shot punched away by Pope. Cash was first to arrive to the loose ball and it looked certain that he would convert, but the Pole’s half-volley sailed into the stands to Newcastle’s relief.
Two Newcastle substitutes combined to add their fourth when Barnes squared for Wilson to finish after easily beating the high line, with a VAR check confirming the former Leicester City winger had timed his run to perfection.
Villa were again let off the hook when Joelinton dragged Diego Carlos up the pitch and picked out the sprinting Barnes, again finding Wilson but this time kept out by a super save from Martinez. From the following corner, Joelinton was denied by a goal-line clearance.
Newcastle’s fifth came as they entered stoppage time. Jacob Murphy danced away from Pau Torres and saw Barnes bearing down on goal, with the winger making no mistake and converting.
GK: Nick Pope – 7/10 – Produced some important saves at critical moments for the hosts.
RB: Kieran Trippier – 6/10 – Pushed high up the pitch and into attacking areas, but his reluctance to pull the trigger and hesitancy in the final third slowed Newcastle down at times.
CB: Fabian Schar – 7/10 – For the most part managed to soften the blow of Watkins’ energetic advances.
CB: Sven Botman – 7/10 – Contrastingly hauled to the floor by Watkins, though came up with a few sweeping slide tackles and his long legs earned an assist.
LB: Dan Burn – 7/10 – Newcastle lack depth at left-back but Burn is making a case that he doesn’t need competition, silencing Bailey in the first half and forcing Diaby across the pitch in the second.
DM: Bruno Guimaraes – 7/10 – Sometimes clumsy and complacent but hardly a poor performance, even by his lofty standards. Turned on the style when Newcastle were cruising.
CM: Sandro Tonali – 9/10 – Buzzed about the pitch with an energy which suggests he’s bought into the Newcastle project. Home fans sung his new chant throughout the evening.
CM: Joelinton – 7/10 – Rash on occasion but brought some needed bite to the midfield battle when the game was close and flair when Newcastle were in total control.
RW: Miguel Almiron – 6/10 – Seems to have gained a yard of pace and the main criticism of his performance is he didn’t know his limits. Effective in transition but guilty of overhitting some key passes or crosses.
CF: Alexander Isak – 9/10 – One of the Premier League’s best players to watch in full-flight. Tore Villa apart with his unique blend of technique, length and trickery. Would have secured a hat-trick on another day.
LW: Anthony Gordon – 7/10 – Stretched play and dug in deep, linking up nicely with Isak. Performances like this are why Newcastle were so determined to sign him.
Substitutes
SUB: Harvey Barnes (68′ for Gordon) – 8/10
SUB: Callum Wilson (68′ for Isak) – 8/10
SUB: Jacob Murphy (85′ for Almiron) – N/A
SUB: Sean Longstaff (85′ for Guimaraes) – N/A
SUB: Elliot Anderson (90′ for Tonali) – N/A
Subs not used: Dubravka (GK), Livramento, Targett, Lascelles
Manager
Eddie Howe – 7/10 – Newcastle were characterised last season by their ruthless edge and they continued that tradition on the opening day.
GK: Emi Martinez – 5/10 – Perhaps a little fortunate to have escaped a red card. Threw up his huge hands to keep Villa in the contest on several occasions.
RB: Matty Cash – 3/10 – Newcastle ran rings around him at one end and he proved a detriment in front of goal at the other.
CB: Ezri Konsa – 2/10 – Lost all confidence following Mings’ injury. Eventually punished for acting so complacent in possession.
CB: Tyrone Mings – 5/10 – Withdrawn midway through the first half with what looked like a serious injury.
LB: Lucas Digne – 3/10 – Handed a chance to stake his claim for the left-back spot with Alex Moreno still on his way back from injury, but was unremarkable in all areas.
RM: Leon Bailey – 4/10 – Hauled off at half-time with an apparent back injury, which would have explained why he got no change out of a sluggish Burn.
CM: Boubacar Kamara – 4/10 – Swept up well and distributed possession swiftly, but had too much on his plate in the second half and lost all control down the stretch.
CM: Douglas Luiz – 5/10 – Did well for most of the afternoon before the game got away from the whole team.
LM: John McGinn – 5/10 – Failed to get a grip in the game after providing a helping hand in Villa’s early equaliser.
CF: Moussa Diaby – 7/10 – Lively and dangerous when Villa were free-flowing, but that wasn’t on a consistent enough basis.
CF: Ollie Watkins – 6/10 – Put himself about and fought for every ball but needed more support.
Substitutes
SUB: Pau Torres (31′ for Mings) – 3/10 – Neat and tidy on the ball but consistently caught in transition.
SUB: Youri Tielemans (46′ for Bailey) – 4/10 – Sank in the midfield battle.
SUB: Diego Carlos (64′ for McGinn) – 3/10
SUB: Philippe Coutinho (87′ for Diaby) – N/A
SUB: Jaden Philogene-Bidace (87′ for Cash) – N/A
Subs not used: Olsen (GK), Carlos, Chambers, Kellyman, Archer
Manager
Unai Emery – 3/10 – Failed to halt Villa’s decline, notably withdrawing his captain midfielder for another defender. The team became worse defensively anyway.
Player of the match – Alexander Isak (Newcastle United)
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90 Mins
