Newcastle United had been in a serious slump for the last four rounds, but they don't look in any danger of dropping into the relegation race anymore. The Magpies are now solidly top half on 37 points after their 1-0 win over Aston Villa, but it didn't come easy. They struggled in front of net, but found a stoppage time winner through Loic Remy.
Newcastle vs. Aston Villa: Final score 1-0, Loic Remy wins it late
Newcastle were superior to Aston Villa throughout the second half, but it took them until stoppage time to find the breakthrough.
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The first half was open, but featured very poor finishing. Gabriel Agbonlahor was Villa's most dangerous player and had a couple of good early chances, forcing Tim Krul into a save on one occasion in the 21st minute and blasting just over his crossbar on another. Newcastle nearly scored twice at the end of the half, but had to settle for 0-0 going into halftime. Remy missed by mere inches on a 44th minute free kick and Papiss Cisse badly mishit a shot right in front of the goal a minute later.
Very little happened in the second half until the dying minutes, when Villa started to play for the draw and Newcastle picked up the pace. Remy was robbed by the post in the 88th minute after Ron Vlaar got too cute in his own box and gave the ball away to Luuk de Jong. The Dutchman picked out Remy, but his effort bounced off the upright.
He would make amends four minutes later, in the second minute of stoppage time. Again, Vlaar was the biggest culprit for Villa, falling down while Remy was in front of him. That opened up a shooting lane for the Newcastle striker, who scored to end a four-game winless streak for the Magpies.
Newcastle: Krul, Dummett, Coloccini, Williamson, Debuchy, Gouffran, Anita, Tiote (Gosling 89’), Sissoko, Remy, Cisse (de Jong 72’)
Goals: Remy (90’)
Aston Villa: Guzan, Bertrand (Bennett 76’), Vlaar, Baker, Bacuna, El Ahmadi, Westwood (Sylla 61’), Delph, Agbonlahor, Benteke, Weimann
Goals: None
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