Newcastle and Villa draw this seasons first six-pointer

Newcastle and Aston Villa begin their Champions League aspirations against each other, in the seasons first six pointer of the campaign, but points were split evenly with the game finishing 0-0 at Villa Park.

Konsa received a straight red in the 66’ after bringing down Anthony Gordon 30 yards from goal after the striker pounced on a fast break from a corner, had Konsa not brought down the Englishman he would have been one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

Yuri Tielemans deserved an assist at 53’ after receiving a short corner and whipping the ball into the box, it glided past the back post, perfectly poised for anyone to tap the ball home as the area was completely void of any defenders. No Villa player gambled, if they had it would certainly have opened the scoring.

Newscatle players did not look on the same page, a rehersed set-piece routine from the training ground created a great chance for Schär, or would have, had his own teammate Burn not taken out his own man in attempt to go for the ball. Considering the routine had clearly been revised on the training ground, you have to wonder how that mistake happened?

After the red, Vila remained pegged back for the remainder of the game, with backs to the wall defending keeping the Villa goal safe. Matty Cash made multiple painful blocks to keep his sides clean sheet intact.

Newboy Anthony Elanga showed off his electric running on the ball which often required two or three defenders to stop. Villa weren’t able to create any out and out clear chances in the first half, but were bailed out by Anthony Gordon who was unable to convert the best two chances of the first half.

Goalkeepers took the headlines during team selections, with Emi Martinez serving his suspension for a red card picked up against Manchester United last season giving a start to Bizot. Newcastle continued with Pope as their first choice despite recent signing Ramsdale joining the club on loan this summer, providing tough competition for the England internationals.