Newcastle crush 10-man Villa 3-0
Victory in the last home game of the year moved Newcastle up to fifth on 29 points while Villa fell to ninth, a point behind Eddie Howe's side.
Newcastle United beat Aston Villa 3-0 in the Premier League on Thursday with goals from Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak and Joelinton while Jhon Duran was sent off for the visitors who crashed to a fifth straight away defeat.
Victory in the last home game of the year moved Newcastle up to fifth on 29 points while Villa fell to ninth, a point behind Eddie Howe's side.
Newcastle are in a purple patch with four straight wins in all competitions and their third in the league in their quest to return to the top four and the Champions League.
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Newcastle got off to a flier in the second minute when they won the ball back in midfield before Joelinton found Gordon on the left, where the English winger curled a shot past the dive of Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez and into the top corner.
As Villa looked for an equaliser, the game got increasingly physical with fouls all across the pitch leading to a stop-start contest and the visitors did test Martin Dubravka in Newcastle's goal.
But Villa shot themselves in the foot when Jhon Duran was sent off in the 32nd minute for a straight red card after he stamped on Fabian Schar following a tackle.
Jhon Duran, who has scored 12 goals in all competitions for Villa this season, first stamped Schar's leg and then his back before falling over. As he walked off the pitch, the livid Colombian kicked a water bottle before going down the tunnel.
Newcastle continued to probe Villa's defence and doubled their lead in the 59th minute when Bruno Guimaraes slipped a ball through for Jacob Murphy and he squared the ball to Isak for a tap-in -- his 24th goal of the calendar year.
Minutes later, Newcastle nearly made it 3-0 but Martinez came to the rescue once again when he saved a shot from Joelinton while Murphy pounced on the rebound and saw his shot come off the crossbar.
Emery made a triple substitution but it made no difference and Joelinton completed the rout in stoppage time when he nicked the ball in midfield, made an unimpeded run and fired an emphatic strike from the edge of the box into the top corner.
