Newcastle United Player Ratings vs Aston Villa: 10/10 for predator Wilson; Almiron, Joelinton, Schar all shine with 8

Newcastle United cruised to a 4-0 statement triumph over relegation-battlers Aston Villa as they continue to prove their Champions League credentials.

The Entertainers are back again! Newcastle hammered Aston Villa 4-0 at a jubilant St James’ Park on Saturday afternoon, as striker Callum Wilson bagged a brace to affirm his England credentials, while Miguel Almiron scored yet another spectacular goal to make a further mockery of Jack Grealish’s derogatory jibe in Man City’s title celebrations last season.

Buoyed after their 4-0 victory over Brentford last weekend, Aston Villa were sent crashing back down to earth as they fell to a 4-0 thumping at the hands of rampaging Newcastle, who absolutely annihilated the visitors and could have scored more.

Newcastle had a couple of early openings in the game, but the majority of the first half was marred by extended stoppages owing to injuries to Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and attacking midfielder Emiliano Buendia, with the former having to be replaced later on by Robin Olsen when the Argentine shot-stopper flared his concussion.

Callum Wilson broke the deadlock in the sixth minute of the 10-minutes of first-half injury time from the penalty spot after Miguel Almiron’s goal-bound attempt hit Ashley Young’s out-stretched arm, a blatant pen.

The Englishman, who is in contention for a spot in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the World Cup, added a second after the break. It was a creative set-piece routine straight off the training ground, with Almiron and Kieran Trippier gracefully putting the ball onto Wilson’s head.

The second goal opened the floodgates. Joelinton got on the scoresheet only a couple of minutes later to finish a brilliant counter-attacking move, before Miguel Almiron rounded off a perfect evening for the Magpies, scoring his seventh goal of the campaign. Another belter into the top bins from his gifted left foot. Just simply sensational, he’s desperate to get his hands on this year’s Puskas award.

The Magpies had more opportunities to increase their lead, with Wilson hitting the crossbar again with another header, and substitute Jacob Murphy hitting the woodwork minutes later as Newcastle dominated throughout to remain fourth in the table with 24 points from 13 games. The Magpies would have finished third if it had not been for Antonio Conte’s Spurs making a late comeback against Bournemouth.

Nick Pope: 7/10

Pope had a pretty comfortable afternoon in between the sticks for Newcastle, as the Villains mustered zero shots on target. Coasted through the game to record his sixth clean sheet of the season.

Kieran Trippier: 7/10

The Newcastle skipper was extremely influential in the final third as he dominated the proceedings down the right flank, and weighed in with an assist for Wilson’s header goal in what was a brilliantly-worked set-piece routine. Wasn’t called upon defensively and more often than not found himself camped in the opposition box. Could have bagged another early assist in the first half had Almiron used his left foot.

Fabian Schär: 8/10

Schar was hardly put to the test and effortlessly kept Villa at bay while also spraying the ball efficiently. The Swiss centre-back epitomises the phrase Rolls-Royce defender as he pinged countless precise long balls over the top and in behind Villa’s backline for the likes of Joelinton and Almiron with both feet. Almost acted as a deep-lying playmaker.

Sven Botman: 7.5/10

Another sparkling display at the back from the towering Dutchman, who controlled the penalty box and picked up passes in between opposition lines with ease. Some elegant line-breaking passing on show. Marshalled Danny Ings out of the game.

Dan Burn: 7.5/10

Another steady defensive display from the Burn, who produced a vital tackle to prevent Emiliano Buendia from firing into an open net early on in the game after some good wing play from Leon Bailey. The Geordie defender had a couple of minor slips and was turned inside-out a couple of times against the Jamaican winger, but he was having none of that and responded with a powerful tackle. Didn’t put a foot wrong.

Sean Longstaff: 7/10

Longstaff delivered an excellent performance. As ever, the Geordie midfielder covered every inch of the grass and ran his socks off, diving into loose balls and literally a machine off-the-ball. Not only that, he passed the ball around with accuracy and played a teasing last-ditch cross for Chris Wood, who couldn’t provide the required finish. Came close to scoring himself with an audacious chip over the Villa keeper early on.

Bruno Guimarães: 7/10

Guimaraes was on top of his opponents and kept things ticking along nicely, helping his team stay in control. Aggressive with his challenges, he played the anchorman role to perfection and set up multiple openings for the hosts with smart passing and switches of play to repeatedly unpick Villa’s defence. He is certainly one of, if not, the best progressive passers in the Premier League, alongside maybe Kevin De Bruyne.

Joe Willock: 7/10

Willock worked as hard as ever and offered energy, pace, and directness when on the ball. A potent threat in transitions with his searing driving runs tearing apart Villa’s midfield, he was unhappy as he squandered a scoring opportunity.

Miguel Almiron: 8/10

Almiron picked up where he left off last week, causing plenty of problems for the Villa defence with his speed, skills on the ball, and sharp movement. The Paraguayan’s goal-bound curling shot hit Ashley Young’s hand and resulted in a penalty.

The Paraguayan speedster had another opportunity from Trippier’s cross, which he really should have buried given his red-hot scoring form. But as the saying goes, if it doesn’t come off the first time, try time and again until you get it right. And Almiron did get it right with a beautiful Arjen Robben-Esque curler, leaving Olsen with no chance.

Showed some great footwork in tight areas and some neat flicks to create plays, especially in that set-piece Wilson goal. We’re now running out of superlatives to explain his stunning goals to Jack Grealish, who has shot himself in the foot by creating an absolute goal-scoring phenom that is powering Newcastle to an unlikely top-four push.

Callum Wilson: 10/10

Wilson enjoyed a great tussle with Tyrone Mings, with the pair in a boxing match of their own in the opening exchanges of the game, giving it as good as they got. However, it was Wilson who had the last laugh here with a brace while he also got on top of Mings to smash his header onto Robin Olsen’s crossbar, which could have been his hat-trick.

He took his pressure penalty very well, straight down the middle, while his instinctive header goal showed his poaching skills. With Gareth Southgate in attendance, it would be a big surprise if Wilson didn’t get the call-up for the England squad flying to Qatar next month after bagging a brilliant brace here.

Joelinton: 8/10

Once again shunted out on the left flank, Joelinton didn’t look out of place at all, and was bright as ever, with his movement, link-up play, and excellent first touch to take down long switches, causing problems for the opposition.

Nobody from the Villa side ever came close to winning an aerial duel against him, while he had Matty Cash in his back pocket as the Brazilian cut inside Cash before shooting straight at Martinez early in the game. Got rewarded with a goal for his tenacity and hard work as he made no mistakes at bundling in from close range.

SUBSTITUTIONS

Matt Targett: 6/10

With the game done and dusted by the time of his substitution, he didn’t have to face any pressure from Villa.

Jacob Murphy 6/10

Could have bagged a goal as an impact substitute but was unfortunate to hit the post.

Jamaal Lascelles: N/A

Didn’t play enough to warrant a rating.

Jonjo Shelvey: N/A

Didn’t play enough to warrant a rating.

Allan Saint-Maximin: N/A

Didn’t play enough to warrant a rating.

Chris Wood: N/A

Missed a big chance.