Newcastle 0 Aston Villa 2 – Sunday 25 January 2026 2pm
Direct fan/writer response from some of our regular contributors to The Mag.
Nat Seaton:
‘Unfortunately a day to forget at St James’ Park.
A messy physical game (which is what Villa wanted) was not helped by the referees.
I know Martinez made some good saves, but we never got control of the game.
We are not a one-man team, but we do miss our captain when he is away.
Off to Paris and hopefully an evening to remember, for all the right reasons.’
Billy Miller:
‘I’m having trouble finding the words for that.
I haven’t watched many Villa games this season but you can see why they are being talked about as title contenders and we are battling to stay above Sunderland on goal difference.
Three games a week definitely takes its toll and I can’t fear the worst with such a tough series of games coming up.
Why can’t we perform without Bruno? Let’s pray he’s back on Wednesday.’
Simon Ritter:
‘Almost everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong at a well-drilled Villa.
Brilliant footwork from Tonali in the opening minute cut open their defense but the very nasty Martinez stretched to form a long barrier and the edge of his boot denied our Italian a season-winning goal.
Villa were also grateful to the keeper for converting Miley’s header after the break, but those were Newcastle’s only real chances.
On the other hand, Villa gave us the runaround far too often.
They did not like the result, on a day when they were at the top of their game and we had little time to find our rhythm.
Injuries to Joelinton and Tonali, signs of fatigue among teammates and a lack of strength up front indicate that we have hit a wall.
All we can do is run through it.”
GTone:
‘Waste.
Is this PSR?
Is it the Isak debacle?
Is this the limit of Eddie’s capabilities?
God knows, but what I do know is that I can’t wait for the end of this season.
I don’t care about Europe, but the headlines I want to see are those of the league and not some money spin.’
Matt Busby said…:
‘Two clubs that cannot break the monopoly of the so-called big six will compete this afternoon in St. James.
Fair play to Villa, they did some things against us today and they have maintained their title challenge, for now at least.
Botman and Miley are both excellent and what happens if Tonali scores in the first minute? Those small margins we keep talking about.’
David Punton:
‘We finished on a day when we had to do it without Bruno.
Despite starting the match well, it was Villa who emerged with the better play. Frustrating!
Eddie Howe certainly needs to think long and hard about this front line.
The defense wasn’t much better either!
A bad day for us and the opportunity to move up was missed. The story of this season: one step forward, one step back.
It’s easy to say that Europe is taking its toll, but Villa had to play away to Fenerbahce on Thursday evening, so they had one day less than us to prepare.
They are having a great season and have demonstrably done better than us.
I was going to say it’s reassuring that we don’t have to play so much every week, but then I thought about the FA Cup match.
For now we continue to Paris. It’s brutal.’
Tony Mallabar:
‘Although I look through life through black and white glasses, I have to say that Villa, along with Arsenal, are the two best teams I have seen on the park this season.
A great game despite Villa’s time-wasting histrionics (yes, we would have done the same).
Wissa and big Nick both got game time and then it dawned on me that the player on the pitch who had to solve our problems up front was Ollie Watkins.
Don’t worry, to Paris on Tuesday.
So anyone in the Montmartre district who fancy a light sherry on Tuesday evening, come along and say hello.”
Newcastle 0 Aston Villa 2 – Sunday 25 January 2026 2pm
Match statistics
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Astonvilla:
Buendia 19 Watkins 88
Possess was Newcastle 60% Villa 40%
Total shots were Newcastle 15 Villa 14
Shots on target were Newcastle 4 Villa 8
Corners were Newcastle 6 Villa 5
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 24 Villa 27
Newcastle team vs Villa:
Pope, Tripper, Thiaw, Botman, Hall, Tonali (Willock 84), Joelinton (Ramsey 48), Miley, Barnes, Gordon (Elanga 63), Wissa (Woltemade 62)
Unused subs:
Ramsdale, Osula, Burn, Shahar, Alex Murphy
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