Wilson strikes twice as Newcastle hammer Villa 4-0

NEWCASTLE, England, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Newcastle United forward Callum Wilson scored twice and Miguel Almiron netted a sensational second-half strike as the fourth-placed Magpies thrashed Aston Villa 4-0 at St James’ Park in the Premier League on Saturday.

Newcastle had a couple of early chances against a Villa side that thrashed Brentford 4-0 last week after sacking manager Steven Gerrard but the joy of that result was quickly forgotten.

The visitors’ afternoon got off to a bad start when goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was struck in the head by team mate Tyrone Mings’ knee in the 18th minute and had to be replaced by Robin Olsen 17 minutes later.

Olsen pulled off a good save to deny Almiron but there was little he could do when Villa’s Ashley Young conceded a penalty deep into first-half stoppage time and Wilson blasted the spot kick down the middle to give Newcastle the lead.

Wilson thought he had put his side 2-0 up in the 10th minute of the added time when he rounded Olsen and slotted home, but the offside flag went up and the goal was chalked off.

With England manager Gareth Southgate watching from the stands, Wilson got his second with a header after an excellent short corner in the 56th and three minutes later Joelinton added another, pouncing on a rebound from a Wilson shot to score.

“I have said many times I will not talk my way into the (England World Cup) squad, I will let my performances do the talking,” Wilson said in a post-match interview.

Paraguayan Almiron made it four in the 67th, taking a couple of touches before curling an exquisite left-foot shot in at the far post as Newcastle ran riot against a ragged Villa defence.

Wilson hit the bar with another header after 76 minutes and Jacob Murphy struck the post two minutes later as Newcastle enjoyed an easy win to remain fourth in the table on 24 points from 13 games, with Villa languishing in 15th on 12.

“It was a great performance. For 35 minutes we were slow and were not really ourselves. It was becoming frustrating. In the second half we blew them away,” Wilson said, adding that he would have liked to have got his hat-trick.

“To be honest I was frustrated, It just wasn’t going to happen. Nevertheless we got the three points. I got two goals and one assist. I will take that,” he said. “We don’t get carried away. We have to keep this form going.”

Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Ken Ferris

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