It was a backhanded compliment, of sorts, from John McGinn. "Newcastle are really good at what they do, but they leave a lot of 1v1s at the back," the Aston Villa captain said after his side put the Magpies to the sword at the weekend.
It turns out Newcastle United are not the only ones as Manchester City discovered in the champions' dramatic 2-1 win against Aston Villa a few days later. There were 93 minutes on the clock when Jeremy Doku skinned substitute Axel Disasi down the left and drilled the ball across with the outside of his boot. There was Matheus Nunes arriving at the back post to fire Manchester City into third.
A crestfallen Boubacar Kamara dropped to his knees inside the box. Unai Emery closed his eyes, muttered under his breath and threw his hands over his face on the touchline. Players and staff knew how big a goal this was - not only in the context of the game.
It was the latest winner Aston Villa had conceded in the Premier League since October, 2021 and only bottom of the table Southampton have shipped more goals after the 90th minute in the Premier League than Emery's team (eight) this season. Roy Keane, who knows a thing or two about the power of late goals, felt this particular strike would prove 'costly at the end of the season for the Champions League'.
Emery stayed positive after the game, and repeatedly spoke about the need to 'keep going', but even the Aston Villa boss admitted: "I can feel a little bit disappointed." Midfielder Youri Tielemans, meanwhile, was left 'really frustrated'.
Contrast that feeling to the high of hammering Newcastle on Saturday after Aston Villa recorded a fifth straight league win. Ollie Watkins said it was 'nice to get a little bit of revenge' following that 4-1 trouncing while McGinn claimed Aston Villa 'owed them one'.
Aston Villa knew that if Newcastle had got a result at Villa Park, it would have been 'very unrealistic to catch them'. "It set a marker down that even though we have got a disadvantage in goals difference and points wise, we're there and we're waiting on any team to slip up," McGinn told Sky Sports.
Now it's Newcastle's turn. The Magpies have the chance to open up a five-point gap on Aston Villa. In truth, given Newcastle's vastly superior goal difference, it would be the equivalent of six points with just four games to go. What an incentive that is against doomed Ipswich Town on Saturday.
Ipswich have a strong motivation of their own, though. A failure to win at St James' Park will see Kieran McKenna's team officially relegated.
Ten-man Ipswich may have been hammered by Arsenal at the weekend, but the Tractor Boys have not gone down without a fight. Ipswich have claimed a point at Chelsea, defeated Bournemouth, scored twice against Nottingham Forest and only lost by a single goal versus Wolves, Crystal Palace and Manchester United in the last couple of months.
No wonder assistant Jason Tindall has repeatedly warned it will be a 'tough' game. Newcastle can't afford to be complacent as the black-and-whites look to bounce back.
"Now we go week to week," he added. "So we can refresh and get some good work on the training ground to make sure we deliver the level of performances that we know we can and that we have consistently to win games to get us into the Champions League."
