There were a number of major talking points in Newcastle United’s home defeat against Premier League rivals Aston Villa.

Sven Botman’s challenge on Aston Villa forward Nicolas Jackson has divided opinion in the aftermath of Newcastle United’s home defeat against Unai Emery’s side.

The Dutch defender was shown a yellow card just after the quarter-hour mark at St James Park after he produced a strong challenge on the Senegal international - and both referee Jarred Gillett and VAR official Stuart Attwell both agreed a yellow card was the current punishment for the Magpies centre back despite the latter conceding the tackle was ‘reckless’. Jackson hit out at the decision suggesting Botman could have broken his leg and Villa head coach Emery took a measured approach by stating the officials’ decision-making was ‘clear’.

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The decision has provoked debate across the media and was a big talking point on BBC Match of the Day on Saturday night as former Manchester City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart insisted Botman has ‘done well to get a yellow card’.

He said: “He went in hard, he went in really hard. He flies in, he could really hurt Jackson here. I think he goes in very aggressive and I think best case scenario he hits the top of the ball and I think he’s done well to get a yellow card.”

However, Danny Murphy stressed the officials had ‘got the balance right’ across several decisions in the Premier League on Saturday and insisted fans enjoy seeing a higher threshold for challenges.

When asked if the challenge met the threshold for a red card under endangering an opponent, former Liverpool midfielder Murphy replied: “No I don’t think it does. I want to see officials giving players the benefit of the doubt more often and have a higher bar with that stuff. I think they have got it spot on all of them today. I think the balance has been right and I think we’ve got too far the other way, even last season, but the season before for sure. I think we all watched it today and we enjoyed so much of the competitive element. The fans love it too.”

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