Newcastle 3-0 Aston Villa (December 26, 2024) Match analysis

Newcastle United beat Aston Villa 3-0 in the Premier League on Thursday with goals from Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak and Joelinton, while Jhon Durán was sent off for the visitors, who suffered their fifth consecutive defeat.

Victory in the final home game of the year saw Newcastle move up to fifth place with 29 points, while Villa dropped to ninth, a point behind Eddie Howe’s side.

Newcastle find themselves in a purple patch with four straight wins in all competitions and third in the league as they look to return to the top four and the Champions League.

They made a breakthrough in the second minute when they won the ball back in midfield before Joelinton found Gordon on the left and the England winger curled a shot past Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez into the top corner.

While Villa hoped for an equalizer, the game became increasingly tense, with fouls occurring all over the pitch, leading to a stop-start contest and the visitors testing Martin Dúbravka in the Newcastle goal.

Michelle Mercer/Newcastle United via Getty Images

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But Villa shot themselves in the foot when Duran was sent off for a red card in the 32nd minute after stepping on Fabian Schär following a tackle.

Duran, who has scored 12 goals in all competitions for Villa this season, kicked Schar’s leg and then his back before falling over. As he left the pitch, the angry Colombia international kicked a water bottle before heading down the tunnel.

Newcastle continued to test Villa’s defense and doubled their lead in the 59th minute when Bruno Guimarães passed a ball through to Jacob Murphy and he passed the ball to Isak – his 24th goal of the calendar year.

Minutes later Newcastle almost made it 3-0 but Martinez came to the rescue again when he parried a shot from Joelinton while Murphy pounced on the rebound and saw his shot hit the crossbar.

Emery made a triple substitution but it made no difference and Joelinton ended the defeat in stoppage time when he grabbed the ball in midfield, made an unhindered run and fired an emphatic shot from the edge of the box into the top corner.