Ollie Watkins makes 'unbelievable' Newcastle United claim & exposes Jason Tindall tactic

Ollie Watkins was delighted after Aston Vila hammered an “unbelievable” Newcastle United team.

Unai Emery’s side moved within two points of third place Newcastle after recording a 4-1 victory at Villa Park. Watkins opened the scoring just 35 seconds in before Fabian Schar equalised. However, Schar’s header proved to be in vain after three second-half goals in 11 minutes from Ian Maatsen, Amadou Onana and an own goal from Dan Burn inflicted a heavy defeat on United.

Reflecting on his side’s victory, Watkins said: “Delighted, Newcastle are an unbelievable team, third in the league for a reason and we created a lot of problems for them today. Unbelievable performance from the boys. Our home form is really good and we just need to keep pushing now.

“A great start for us, it's what we need in home games. Previously we've started a bit sloppy, maybe gone behind and had to work teams out and build up patiently. That wasn't the case today. A quickfire goal which was nice.

"Quickfire goals are the way to kill a game off. When you're on top, really punish them and we did that today, we were really clinical. We had a lot of joy.”

Aston Villa do a tactical job on Newcastle United

Watkins’ opener came when his shot deflected off Schar. The England international was then twice denied by the woodwork as he and fellow Villa attacker Morgan Rogers caused the Magpies all kinds of problems.

“We knew Newcastle were going to go man-to-man,” Watkins added. “Personally, I like it when teams do that. You’re focusing on beating the defender you’re up against and go from there. I think I got the better of Schar today and gave him a hard time.

Click here to join NewcastleWorld's dedicated NUFC WhatsApp channel for news, videos and voice notes. CLICK THE BELL FOR NOTIFICATIONS.

"I think I played against him a few times and he’s an unbelievable defender. Today was my day and one-on-one at the back they had a lot of success previously.

"We saw them doing it against Palace and they scored five goals - the manager told us it was going to be difficult. It was about me getting a hold of the ball and bring people into play."

What Unai Emery said about the result

Villa have set their sights on qualifying for the Champions League for a second successive season having exited at the quarter-final stage against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.

Speaking after the game, Emery said: “Today Newcastle is the level, like PSG and Man City on Tuesday, this level is the highest we can face and how we are responding is key. The players were following the game plan for 90 minutes, the starting eleven and the substitutes.

"The supporters are always here with us in every competition. The Champions League was fantastic, the way we played. Now we want to play in Europe again and we have to get it through the Premier League. We have to get points like we did today against Newcastle. They are still contenders and favourites more than us because they have two more points.”

YOUR NEXT READ: Newcastle United player ratings vs Aston Villa: 3.5/10 'nightmare' & Sandro Tonali 'off-day' in 4-1 defeat.