We asked Mark Jankowski to give us his match ratings and player comments after Newcastle 0 Aston Villa 1.

Hornicek 7

Made a very good stop from Barkley in the second half and generally swept up well behind the defence.

Miley 5

His communication with Botman for Villa’s goal was very poor as was his lack of effort to get back at Manzambi. He improved towards the end of the game when he seemed to improve his intensity.

Thiaw 6

Marshalled Jackson’s pace well for the most part and cut off a few threatening through balls. He (along with most of the side) needs to start moving the ball forward with greater urgency.

Botman 5

For the majority of the game I felt Sven played reasonably well.

However, every performance recently has one or two errors in it, which when there’s increased scrutiny on you, does begin to stand out.

His communication with Miley on the goal left a lot to be desired and he left a few passes into midfield short. I am tempted to add a point onto his score as he had our best effort of the game but on the whole we need a bit more from Sven.

Hall 7

He’s playing on a level above his team mates at the moment.

He was rarely troubled by anything thrown at him by Villa and tried his best to drag us back into the game but to no avail.

Fernandez-Pardo 5

He had a few early promising forays forward down the right but those were few and far between.

He wasn’t helped by the speed of our build up play but after missing some golden opportunities on Monday he didn’t put in a performance to right those wrongs.

Nico 5

He won one or two crucial turnovers in midfield but he didn’t set a fast enough tempo in midfield.

With Bruno gone, someone needs to grab these games by the scruff of the neck. Nico needs to become that guy sooner rather than later.

Joelinton 6

He was fully committed as always and his presence in midfield did add some bite to our work off the ball, but I’m not convinced he’s suited to a midfield two.

Joelinton has always looked his best charging around the pitch and harassing the opposition, not having a third midfielder to cover him when he goes hunting leaves us exposed.

Barnes 5

If Barnes doesn’t chip in with a goal I often feel like he is a passenger in our side.

It’s a difficult situation to manage because in many ways he’s our best goal scorer but he’s playing in a position which needs more creativity and his presence stifles our other attacking players.

Willock 5

He looked to drive with the ball whenever he got it during the first half but was often failed by a lack of support from his teammates or some errant passing.

He seemed to pick up a little knock on his ankle prior to his withdrawal in the second half. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious.

Wissa 5

It was a largely quiet game from Wissa although he had one spectacular effort well blocked which could have troubled Suzuki in the Aston Villa net.

He also made an excellent driving run from within our own half which resulted in him missing the target when he had other options available.

I don’t mind him as a number nine taking the shot on but, if he does, he must hit the target in that situation.

Subs

Osula 5

Was his usual energetic self when he came on the pitch but spurned his best opportunity by running into Wan-Bissaka when he could have potentially shifted the ball out his feet and got the shot away.

Toure 6

He looked a much more threatening player once he got himself on the left-hand side of the pitch and tried to use his pace to attack the Villa full-backs when he could.

His final ball is still a bit hit and miss, but I feel as the season wears on, he could be a very important player for us.

Burn 6

Big Dan Burn won lots of headers in the limited time he was on the pitch and looked to be our most threatening player for the short time he was on.

I’ll need to see the replay, but it did look like he was hauled down by Tyrone Mings at the back post, which could have potentially resulted in a penalty.

Newcastle United 0 Aston Villa 1 – Saturday 17 October 2026 5.30pm

Match Stats

Goals:

Villa:

Manzambi 36

Possession was Newcastle 49% Coventry 51%

Total shots were Newcastle 16 Coventry 15

Shots on target were Newcastle 1 Villa  3

Corners were Newcastle 4 Villa 5

Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 39 Villa 27

Newcastle team v Aston Villa:

Hornicek, Thiaw, Botman, Hall, Lewis Miley, Gonzalez, Willock (Osula 56), Joelinton (Burn 90), Wissa, Barnes, Fernandez-Pardo (Toure 56)

Unused subs:

Pope, Schar, Bamba, Steur, Dedic, Murphy