Aston Villa 0-0 Newcastle United: Everything but the goal for Isak-less Magpies | OneFootball

The 10 men of Aston Villa managed to hold Newcastle United to a goalless draw at Villa Park despite facing an attacking barrage.

Anthony Elanga, Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes all created dangerous chances throughout the game, but every shot was either hit off target or denied by new goalkeeper Marco Bizot, who acquitted himself well on debut.

A red card to Ezri Konsa with 25 minutes of football left to play ensured the rest of the match would be spent with the ball at Newcastle’s feet and deep in the Villa half. Even then, The Magpies just couldn’t find a way through.

As it happened

Head in hands. That’s how Eddie Howe spent much of the game. Chances came and chances went. Newcastle dominated their hosts and couldn’t translate it to goals. So, with every opportunity which should’ve hit the net, Howe reacted with exasperation, his hands supporting a head which was struggling to believe its eyes.

It was a miracle Aston Villa didn’t concede in this football match. Perhaps with Alexander Isak on the pitch, they would have. Alas, they rode their luck for as long as possible against a deluge of Newcastle pressure.

The first guilt-edged missed chance came from the new boy Elanga, who broke clean through in behind the Villa defence before his shot was denied by an excellent stop from Bizot in goal, whose maiden save doubled as an ideal first impression.

Chances kept coming after that, though, with Gordon seeing a curled shot deflected over the crossbar by Matty Cash not a minute afterwards.

He really ought to have scored at some point in the first half. On 11 minutes, he met a terrific Barnes cross totally unmarked but could only fire a header over the crossbar, and in the 16th minute his long-range effort was forced behind by a full-stretch Bizot.

Between him, Elanga and Fabian Schär – who cannoned an effort over from distance – Newcastle had every opportunity to score, but nothing would find the back of the net.

For 45 minutes, they were the better team by a country mile. Every pass was deliberate, every run architected with precision, every transition part of a plan. Aston Villa, for their part, looked as though they were simply waiting for something to happen. Even then, they struggled to string more than three or four passes together before an unforced mistake would scupper whatever build-up they could muster.

After a half in which their passes were only accurate 73% of the time, they came out of the blocks in the second half much more intent. The first 20 minutes of the half were all Villa, and they even produced two shots: a Boubacar Kamara header and an Ollie Watkins shot both hit into the grateful midriff of Nick Pope. It was two more efforts than they managed in the first half.

But then, just as they were showing signs of life, they shot themselves in the foot. Elanga had played Gordon in behind the Villa defence, with just the length of a half and Bizot between him and a goal. Konsa desperately tried to keep up and panicked, pulling him down by the shoulders. It was a clear red card and referee Craig Pawson didn’t hesitate to give the defender his marching orders.

With Newcastle down to 10 men, proceedings returned to the standards set in the first half. Shots flew one after the other, first Schär missing from range once more before Cash put his body on the line to impede a Gordon shot in anger and a venomous Barnes volley.

Still, the ball would not go into the net and that was how it ended: level, as it had begun.

It was a miraculous escape from Aston Villa, who came away with a point and a clean sheet at the end of a game which threatened a much bleaker outcome.

Unai Emery will be a relieved man to have taken that point. As for Howe? His head will stay firmly in his hands, ruing the win that never was. This was a performance with everything but the goal: everything but Isak.

The lineups

AVI: Bizot; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Kamara, Onana; Rogers, Tielemans, McGinn; Watkins