Siem de Jong should have put the game to bed, and was made to pay for his terrible miss a couple of minutes later by Jordan Ayew’s wonderful goal. Rudy Gestede might have pinched the winner for Villa but Newcastle finished on the attack in a helter-skelter second half, so maybe a point each was about right. Villa remain rock bottom with seven points – no team has escaped Premier League relegation with single digits at Christmas. They will need to improve on this display if they are going to be the first to manage it, but there were at least some signs of progress under Rémi Garde. That’s all from me, thanks for reading.
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Full-time: Newcastle 1-1 Aston Villa
Villa finish on the attack but Sánchez blasts way over the frame of the goal and that is that. Probably a fair result in the end.
90+1 mins: Janmaat slips a pass inside the full-back for Sissoko to chase and he bursts into the box. It looks a great situation and the midfielder cuts a pass back for Pérez arriving in the centre, but it’s a fraction behind the forward and he fires over the bar. Three minutes added.
89 mins: Gestede wins the corner and does really well moving away from goal to get a header on target, which Elliot pushes over the bar. He wins the next header too but it comes to nothing and Newcastle counter quickly with just the right man, Sissoko. He finds Pérez in the box but the move breaks down.
87 mins: A point isn’t a great return for Villa given their predicament and Ayew surges forwards again looking to find a winner. He’s shut down and Villa have a corner.
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85 mins: Ashley Westwood, who I forgot was playing, goes off with an injury and then invites himself back on without the referee’s permission. He’s booked.
83 mins: Veretout gives the ball away to Pérez who gets hacked down by Sánchez trying to prevent a Newcastle attack. The home side have a set-piece, 40 yards out, and Gestede leaps highest to head it clear. Corner. Pérez bends a low, hard ball from the left but Mitrovic’s header goes well wide under pressure.
81 mins: Ayew and Janmaat have an embarrassing exchange of pushing and chest-bumps. That aside the game is captivating now, totally open. Newcastle attack twice down the left through Thauvin but Villa do just enough each time to get rid of the danger, Guzan looking unconvincing in the process.
78 mins: Villa come forwards again and Mitrovic, under no pressure, heads behind for a corner. Newcastle break through Sissoko, to Pérez, and this is where they’re dangerous ... but Bacuna knows it and hauls down Pérez. Yellow card, and Villa won’t mind that.
76 mins: Wijnaldum is teed up in the six-yard box but hits the ball with his right heel on to his left shin and it bobbles tamely to Guzan. Not the desired contact.
73 mins: Thauvin replaces Anita who isn’t too chuffed with that decision. Thauvin will play wide with Sissoko on the other wing, Wijnaldum moves into the centre of the pitch to pair up with Colback, behind Mitrovic and Pérez up front.
71 mins: Newcastle’s defensive shape is all over the place, Coloccini and Mbemba playing 15 yards deeper than their full-backs. Ayew takes advantage to get in behind again but his cut-back from the byline only picks out Rob Elliot.
69 mins: The second half has felt like an utterly different football match to the first. The rain has made it a bit frantic, but Villa have also come and been a bit frantic, which has helped. Right now they look the more likely to take a win.
66 mins: Villa should be in front! They break and Ayew pulls to the right to cross for Gestede. The big forward really should bury it but somehow misses the ball and Newcastle eventually clear, albeit chaotically.
63 mins: An aimless cross into the area is collected by Ayew on the left side of the box. Nothing much seems on but he loses Janmaat with a shimmy, shifts the ball on to his right foot and then cracks a stunner from the edge of the area an inch inside the far post. Unstoppable.
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GOAL! Newcastle 1-1 Aston Villa (Ayew, 61 mins)
Bang, and Ayew scores a beauty!
60 mins: Gestede comes on for Sinclair, and Pérez replaces De Jong. I don’t think De Jong was taken off specifically for that miss but it didn’t help his case. Immediately Gestede wins a header and Elliot has to tip over the bar.
58 mins: This is an unbelievable miss. Janmaat’s low cross misses everyone and Wijnaldum chases to collect it on the left-hand byline. Villa take an age to react, allowing the Dutch forward to chip a wonderfully flighted cross to De Jong at the back-post, who should score, must score ... but somehow heads wide from a couple of yards out.
56 mins: You might think that direct balls in behind defenders are option A in these conditions as the ball is never running through to the goalkeeper, but no one on the pitch seems to agree with you so just forget it.
53 mins: Dummett stretches for a clearing header which falls nicely for Jordan Ayew, who promptly blasts his volley high into the stands.
50 mins: From what was a fairly organised but dull affair in the first-half this match has transformed into a pretty chaotic, scrappy second so far. De Jong wriggles into the box for Newcastle but nothing comes of it this time, and Villa look to counter.
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48 mins: It’s a fast start. Villa pour forwards and Veretout cracks a good effort with his left from just outside the box which Elliot gets two hands behind. Newcastle break and the ball falls to Sissoko with time in the box but he swings wildly at a volley and connects only to nudge it behind for a goal-kick.
It is still raining at St James’ Park, but Martin Atkinson is happy for the match to get back under way.
@LawrenceOstlere are newcastle's groundskeepers on zero hours contracts?
— shred dog (@streethockey95) December 19, 2015
Half-time entertainment
Football in a hurricane. It’s amazing how long it takes the team playing into the wind to learn that their own goal-kicks are their biggest threat:
Based on their first-half showing, this might be Villa’s best hope:
Half-time: Newcastle 1-0 Aston Villa
Peeeep! And that’s the break.
45 mins: The sodden pitch is becoming a genuine issue here and Martin Atkinson is going to need to take a look at it at half-time. Meanwhile Mbemba trips Gueye, who was in the middle of a promising dribble, and presents Bacuna with a decent position for a free-kick but it’s hit straight at Elliot.
“10 players in claret and blue who appear to have no more than a passing knowledge of each other,” emails Chris Drew.
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42 mins: Dummett is booked for a late slide tackle. The rain is still hammering down to the point where the ball is not rolling through as it should, something that doesn’t seem to have affected Villa’s slick passing game.
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40 mins: There were two pieces of pretty lacklustre marking that led to this goal. First Colback bent a free-kick from the right channel and Mitrovic was allowed plenty of time to get a clever back-header on target, which Guzan had to tip over the bar. From the corner Coloccini seemed to just break away from Lescott to the back post, where he had time to control and slam a low shot at goal. Guzan might have done better but could only push it into his net.
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GOAL! Newcastle 1-0 Aston Villa (Coloccini, 38 mins)
Lescott lets his man go at a corner and Newcastle are in front.
35 mins: The best chance of the match falls immediately to Mitrovic as Sissoko fires a low cross into his team-mate’s path, but the striker misses the ball completely from 12 yards. In fairness, Sissoko’s ball was lashed at him with unnecessary venom.
33 mins: Cissé chases a high ball before giving an ominous hop and clutching his leg. The striker’s game is over. He’s replaced by Mitrovic, who gets a positive reception from St James’ Park.
30 mins: Wijnaldum pressures Okore into running the ball out of play deep in Villa’s half. Newcastle work the ball across the pitch to the right where Sissoko cuts back a tempting ball from the byline into the box but Villa’s defence react well to get rid of the danger. A moment later Janmaat crosses from the right and Cissé times his jump well but directs his header into Guzan’s chest.
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27 mins: Better from Villa who break forward but when the eventual shot is blocked, Newcastle quickly break. Lescott cuts out the throughball down the right aimed at Sissoko before the Newcastle midfielder slides in taking plenty of ball and plenty of corner-flag too.
25 mins: Hutton storms down the right with purpose but his cross bounces behind Ayew in the centre.
23 mins: Martin Tyler is just saying names in the sort of voice you might use to count sheep to fall asleep. In fairness to Villa, their efforts to frustrate Newcastle are proving pretty successful so far but it’s not great to watch.
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20 mins: Cissé takes a clobbering from Sánchez in the middle of the pitch and Newcastle have another chance to deliver a ball into the box. Colback’s delivery is poor and eventually Villa break through Ayew. He is tackled by Sissoko. He is tackled. The next player gives it away. Then there’s an interception. This isn’t good.
17 mins: McClaren makes a little switch, Wijnaldum moving to the right wing and Sissoko to the left. It doesn’t matter too much who does it where, but when Newcastle press, Villa really struggle to pass their way out of trouble.
15 mins: This is a bit awful from Villa. Okore picks the ball up on the edge of his own box but has absolutely no passing options, so rolls a dodgy pass back to Guzan who only just gets there under pressure from Cissé. Villa then concede a free-kick needlessly in the left-back position. Colback delivers into a good area but it’s headed away.
12 mins: Newcastle have certainly been the more lively side but haven’t been able to work a decent opening so far. Villa look a little aimless at the moment, encapsulated by an air-kick from Carlos Sánchez.
10 mins: Wijnaldum has been all over the pitch in these opening minutes. This time he wins possession to start a counterattack down the right but Cissé’s cross is behind De Jong in the middle. A moment later Sissoko chases a pass into the corner and comes out with a corner, but Colback’s inswinger is headed and then volleyed downfield.
7 mins: Gestede has been taken out of the team so Lescott decides to pump the ball high and long for Sinclair to win with his head. He doesn’t win it and Newcastle break until Alan Hutton shuts the door on Wijnaldum.
5 mins: Steve McClaren has only just come out of the tunnel. He’s brolly-less. Wijnaldum takes a chipped pass from Coloccini and at a narrow angle attempts a very ambitious shot, or a pointless cross to nobody. Either way it drills into the side netting.
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2 mins: Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain. It’s raining and as if to prove the point, Brad Guzan takes a pretty squirty touch and is forced to punt the ball into the stands under pressure from Wijnaldum.
Peeeeep! Martin Atkinson gets things rolling. Home kits all round.
The players head out of the tunnel into teeming rain. Hands shaken, and we are about to get going at St James’ Park.
This afternoon’s results do not make good reading for these two sides. Sunderland may have lost but Bournemouth and Norwich both picked up valuable wins to move clear of the bottom three (like Chelsea, ho ho ho). McClaren has named the same side that beat Spurs for what is feels an even bigger game after than it might have been. Garde pulls out Gestede, who wasn’t particularly effective as a lone target man against Arsenal, with Westwood coming into midfield and Sinclair and Ayew expected to lead the line.
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Steve McClaren on leaving Pérez and Mitrovic on the bench: “In the last 15 minutes [against Tottenham] they did really well and won the game for us, but we started the last two games well with De Jong and Cissé. I wanted that experience. Our bench is very strong.”
Rémi Garde on the next four games: “They are simply vital. They are against teams that we are struggling with to be relegated. We know we need points. Working hard and having the right behaviour will win us games.”
I know it is nothing to do with this match, but what a season this chap is having:
Riyad #Mahrez in the Premier League this season: Games: 16 Goals: 13 Assists: 7 pic.twitter.com/ztmCXY3rbL
— Twitte Algérie (@TwitteAlgerie) December 19, 2015
Line-ups
Newcastle: Elliot, Janmaat, Coloccini, Mbemba, Dummett, Sissoko, Colback, Anita, Wijnaldum, De Jong, Cissé
Subs: Darlow, Mbabu, Tioté, Goufrann, Thauvin, Pérez, Mitrovic
Aston Villa: Guzan, Hutton, Okore, Lescott, Bacuna, Gueye, Westwood, Veretout, Sánchez, Sinclair, Ayew
Subs: Bunn, Clark, Richardson, Traoré, Gil, Gestede, Grealish
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Preamble
Can we take today’s results as a sign that after the sacking of Darth Vader, normality is returning to the Premier League galaxy? Chelsea are winning again! Man Utd … Leicester ... OK, perhaps not.
But in defiance against all we’ve learnt this season, let us make some assumptions about what will happen: Chelsea will not be near the bottom come May; Swansea will at some point get their act together and climb to mid-table mediocrity; and unless anyone else decides to press the self-implode button while attempting to sack doctors, players and in turn themselves, that would leaves us with five likely relegation candidates: Bournemouth 19pts, Norwich 17pts, Newcastle 16pts, Sunderland 12pts, and Aston Villa 6pts.
In effect Villa are 11 points from safety, so this game surely falls into that category of must win, daren’t lose, draw ain’t much use. No team has ever escaped relegation having had less than 10 points at Christmas, so falter today and Villa can probably start planning for the Championship. It’s been a while, but Massimo Cellino always throws a welcome do for questionably managed Premier League clubs on his tax-free yacht. Venky’s do a lovely spread. Vincent Tan’s never missed one.
Mike Ashley would probably get an invite too but Newcastle suddenly look quite good, and they boast a pretty impeccable record against Villa in recent seasons without a defeat in eight. Steve McClaren’s side arrive in fine form having beaten Liverpool and Tottenham in their past two games, their first back-to-back victories since the heady days of Alan Pardew.
Then again, it all depends on your interpretation of form – before that they lost to Pardew’s Palace 5-1. Villa … well let’s not discuss Villa’s form. It’s fairly atrocious. But win this one and Christmas will certainly look a little rosier for Rémi Garde and company.
Kick-off: 17.30 GMT
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