Emi Buendia and Ollie Watkins earn Aston Villa victory at Newcastle

Emi Buendia’s sweet strike set Aston Villa on their way to a hard-fought 2-0 Premier League win at Newcastle as they maintained their pursuit of the top two.

The Argentina international’s sumptuous finish and Ollie Watkins’ late header secured victory at St James’ Park – a first on Tyneside since 2005 – which owed much to two fine first-half saves by Emi Martinez from Sandro Tonali and Lewis Miley as Eddie Howe’s men came up short.

Villa were good value for the points on an afternoon when they were slick going forward and dogged in defence, but the Magpies were guilty of failing to make the most of the possession they had, particularly after the break.

The absence of skipper Bruno Guimaraes through injury left Howe’s side needing to break new ground – they had won none of the eight league games they had played without the Brazilian since his arrival in January 2022 – although Villa too were missing key men, in particular Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn.

Newcastle would have been ahead inside the first minute had the returning Martinez not managed to block Tonali’s shot with a leg after the Italy international had collected Joelinton’s pass and carved his way into the penalty area, although Nick Pope was called upon to keep out Buendia’s fifth-minute strike after Tonali had been caught in possession.

With Sven Botman trailing Morgan Rogers and Joelinton leaving his mark on Youri Tielemans, the hosts were enjoying the better of it, but it took a fine 12th-minute save from Pope to deny Watkins after Jadon Sancho had played the striker in behind Malick Thiaw.

Buendia, Rogers and Watkins were starting to cause problems for the hosts, and they forced their way in front with 19 minutes gone when Buendia was allowed time and