Jack Grealish 8, Ollie Watkins 8; Fabian Schar 4, Jonjo Shelvey 4: Aston Villa v Newcastle United player ratings

Magpies' woes continue after comprehensive 2-0 defeat at Villa Park

ASTON VILLA RATNGS: Emiliano Martinez - 7: No real save to make but was kept on his toes by Carroll’s physical presence. Came off line well as Newcastle pumped the odd long ball into box but that was about as much pressure he was put under. Getty

Matthew Cash - 7: In-form right-back will have harder days as Newcastle offered next to no attacking threat from out wide. Reuters

Ezri Konsa - 7: Rarely troubled by Newcastle’s weak attacking effort and helped keep Carroll and Wilson quiet. EPA

Tyone Mings - 8: Seemed to be on the end of every Newcastle ball into box in first half, due to mix of good positioning and poor crossing. Good block from Lascelles header after 20 minutes. Commanding performance from the centre-half. Getty

Matt Targett - 8: First shot of game with drive from outside of area straight at Darlow and almost set-up Watkins after 10 minutes with lovely ball into box. His next cross from left ended up with the striker scoring. Excellent game from the left-back. EPA

Douglas Luiz - 7: Excellent disguised lofted ball over defence almost picked out Traore 10 minutes before half-time. Curled left-footed strike from edge of box wide before half-time and presented with another chance just after break from Darlow save but missed target again. Getty

Marvelous Nakamba - 6: Volleyed wide from edge of box just before half-time. Zimbabwean did okay in midfield alongside Luiz without making the impact of some of his teammates. EPA

Bertrand Traore - 8: Great ball into box from free-kick to pick out Barkley but on-loan attacker missed the chance. Lovely exchange of passes with Grealish before striking a wonderful finish off underside of bar to make it 2-0. Reuters

Ross Barkley - 7: Should have made 2-0 after 16 minutes but headed wide when well placed in box. Cheeky backheel finish drifted over bar midway through second half. Played his part and Villa will be pleased that loan signing from Chelsea appears to have recovered from injury. Reuters

Jack Grealish - 8: Usual quality touches and passes from the midfielder but was given ludicrous amount of time on ball by Newcastle. Beautiful through ball to Watkin who finished well, only for striker to be rightly flagged offside. Perfect pass to lay on second goal for Traore. Fuming at being taken off with three minutes left. Reuters

Ollie Watkins - 8: Close after 10 minutes when he almost got on end of beautiful Targett cross but made no mistake three minutes later making most of Scharr error to head home. Denied second quality finish after 33 minutes after being denied by lineman’s flag. Low shot from tight angle straight at Darlow straight after break. Reuters

SUBS: Trezeguet – (On for Traore 80’) N/A. Denied a goal by excellent Darlow save. PA

Anwar el Ghazi – (On for Barkley 80’) N/A. Jacob Ramsey – (On for Grealish 88’) N/A. Getty

NEWCASTLE RATINGS: Karl Darlow - 6: Will be disappointed to have been beaten to the ball by Watkins for first goal although there had been a series of defensive errors leading to up to it. Absolutely no chance with Traore’s stunning second. Brilliant one-handed stop to deny Trezeguet injury-time goal. EPA

Javier Manquillo - 6: Targett ran riot down down his right-hand side in first 20 minutes but more down to Newcastle's formation than Spaniard's errors. Offered Newcastle some width going forward with a couple of decent crosses into box to Carroll in first half. Rocked by a crunching Targett tackle and ball full in the face by same player in second half. Reuters

Fabian Schar - 4: Playing at centre-half due to injuries, made awful mistake to gift Watkins opening goal. Booked for clumsy foul on same player. Finally did something right with lovely ball out to Manquillo on right after 28 minutes. Bad night for the Swiss. Reuters

Jamaal Lascelles - 5: Fine run and leap from Shelvey corner in first half but saw header blocked by Mings. Booked for clumsy foul on Grealish in second half and looked uncomfortable against Watkins all night. EPA

Jamal Lewis - 6: Tried to offer some width for Newcastle down left with little success. One of United's better players at Villa Park, which isn't saying much. AFP

Jonjo Shelvey - 4: Still sprays around some beautiful passes but lack of pace is striking. Failed to track back with Targett before Villa full-back set up opener and arguably did same with Traore for second. Caught dawdling on ball in last 20 minutes allowing Villa to launch dangerous counter-attack. Getty

Isaac Hayden - 5: Some crunching tackles in the middle of the park but generally given run around by lively Villa midfield. Usually one of Newcastle's most consistent performers, even he is struggling in a team devoid of confidence and an obvious gameplan. Reuters

Jeff Hendrick - 4: Continues to be anonymous in a Newcastle shirt and that debut goal in win against West Ham on opening day of season seems like lifetime ago. Struggle to think of a single contribution the former Burnley man did all night going forward. Getty

Miguel Almiron - 6: Made one lung-busting run down left in first 10 minutes that was completely ignored by teammate Wilson. Buzzed around with little impact where it mattered, as usual. One nice run and pass to substitute Fraser after break and, generally, cannot fault his workrate. Getty

Callum Wilson - 5: Could have joined Villa and must be wondering if he has made the right choice. No service and a quality player is being made to feed off the most meagre of scraps. Getty

Andy Carroll - 6: Pointless having Carroll playing if you don’t have good width and don’t get good crosses into box. Newcastle had neither. A couple half chances with first half headers but little to work with. Booked for poor late challenge on Nakamba. Taken off as Newcastle finally brought on two wide players for last 20 minutes. AP

SUBS: Allan Saint-Maximin – (On for Carroll 71’) 5: Magpies will be delighted to see him back in action after being laid low by Covid but game was pretty much lost by the time he came on. Reuters

Ryan Fraser – (On for Manquillo 71’) 5: Like fellow free transfer summer signing Hendrick, has contributed little to the cause since moving to the Magpies. At least provided a bit of energy after coming on. Dwight Gayle – (On for Almiron 81’) N/A. One improvised overhead kick well wide of Villa goal. Getty

Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins scored his first Premier League goal in 10 games and midfielder Bertrand Traore added another to give the home side a 2-0 win over struggling Newcastle United on Saturday.

The result lifted Villa two places up to eighth on 29 points from 17 games while Newcastle dropped one place to 16th on 19 points from 19 games after a fourth successive defeat since the turn of the year.

Villa pressed from the start and Watkins fired them into a 13th-minute lead as he beat visiting goalkeeper Karl Darlow to the ball and headed it in after Fabian Schaer failed to clear a low Matt Targett cross from the left.

Watkins had another effort correctly ruled out for marginal offside before Traore made it 2-0 in the 42nd, beating Darlow with a fine first-time shot off the underside of the bar thanks to a superb assist by Jack Grealish.

Villa kept up the pressure after the break and Darlow denied Watkins before Ross Barkley came close with an audacious back-heel and Grealish fired wide of the far post.

The result also stretched Newcastle's winless run to 10 games in all competitions and piled more pressure on manager Steve Bruce as it left the Magpies hovering just above the relegation zone.