Newcastle United beat 10-man Aston Villa 3-0 at St James’ Park on Boxing Day - here are the player ratings from the match so far.
Eddie Howe made two changes to his side that won 4-0 at Ipswich Town last time out in the Premier League with Joelinton returning from suspension and Kieran Trippier starting his first match since October. Joe Willock dropped to the bench and Tino Livramento dropped out of the matchday squad due to illness.
Newcastle opened the scoring inside the opening two minutes as Anthony Gordon curled the ball in from the edge of the box from Joelinton’s pass.
Aston Villa were reduced to 10 men after 32 minutes as Jhon Duran was dismissed for violent conduct against Fabian Schar.
Joelinton had the ball in the net just before half-time after some good work from Alexander Isak but the flag was up for going out of play in the build-up. Newcastle assistant manager Jason Tindall was shown a red card at half-time for clashing with one of Aston Villa’s analysts in the tunnel.
Newcastle doubled their lead after the hour mark as Isak turned in his 12 goal of the season from close range following Jacob Murphy’s low cross. The Swede had the ball in the net shortly after but was denied by the offside flag.
Bruno Guimaraes thought he’d made it 3-0 in the closing stages but was denied by a VAR check for handball. Joelinton then did make it 3-0 in stoppage time with a fine strike from distance.
Here are the player ratings from the match...
13. Matt Targett - n/a
On for Trippier 78: Came on for his first competitive appearance in almost 14 months against his former club. | Getty Images
14. Joe Willock - n/a
On for Murphy 78: Had a few touches as Newcastle saw the game out with ease. | Getty Images
