Newcastle United advanced to the FA Cup fifth round with a 3–1 victory over Aston Villa at Villa Park, overturning an early 1-0 deficit in a match that couldn’t have featured worse officiating and was filled with controversial decisions.
Aston Villa took the lead in the 14th minute when Tammy Abraham finished from close range after Douglas Luiz’s quickly taken free-kick. VAR made its first appearance and showed Abraham was clearly offside… but with VAR not in use until the fifth round, the goal stood.
Sublime!
The turning point, however, arrived just before half-time when Villa goalkeeper Marco Bizot was sent off for a last-man foul on Jacob Murphy near the halfway line. Somehow, the ref spotted it and made the right call. A sight to behold!
The dismissal reduced Unai Emery’s side to 10 men and shifted momentum in favor of a ruthless Magpies mob that would put Villa to the sword.
Newcastle capitalised in the second half, starting with Sandro Tonali levelling on 63 minutes after reacting quickest to a free-kick awarded outside the box for what appeared to be a clear handball inside the area, which rebounded into his path.
Tonali then struck again 13 minutes later with a powerful long-range shot to put Newcastle ahead. Finally, German tank Nick Woltemade sealed the win in the 88th minute, finishing from close range to punch NUFC’s tickets to the 5th.
The match featured multiple questionable calls, including Lucas Digne escaping a red card for a high challenge on Murphy and the aforementioned handball decision.
“It felt like it was one of those games that every decision was going against us…” Eddie Howe said. “Our players did well to control their emotions.
“Without VAR, I thought there were a lot of errors.”
Unai Emery, who has previously criticised VAR, acknowledged its absence was significant, saying, “Today, VAR makes sense. VAR is necessary to help the referees.”
Anyway, the victory extends Newcastle’s season to at least 56 matches and keeps alive their final realistic shot at silverware this campaign…
…with their only other option in a cup going through their matchup, a travel to face Qarabag in the Champions League play-off first leg on Wednesday.
