‘Youri Tielemans proves value to Unai Emery’ in Aston Villa win v Newcastle
Aston Villa recorded an outstanding victory over Newcastle in a vital game in the race for a Champions League spot.
Villa headed into the clash knowing that they had to win to close the gap to Newcastle and the top five in the Premier League.
Ollie Watkins returned to the starting XI and justified his selection instantly as he scored in the first minute, and he would go on to shine as Villa thrashed Newcastle 4-1.
Aside from Watkins, Youri Tielemans was also excellent, and proved why he is such a valuable player for Unai Emery.
Tielemans shows his class v Newcastle
Tielemans delivered a masterclass against Newcastle, and even if he was not on the scoresheet, he was still one of the best players on the pitch.
The Belgian recorded an assist in the first minute as his excellent pass set up Watkins’ opening goal, and he oozed class in the rest of the game.
| Competition | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Premier League | 33 | 3 | 7 |
| Champions League | 12 | 2 | 3 |
| FA Cup | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 49 | 5 | 10 |
Tielemans put in the complete performance, recording more passes than anyone else with 71 of his 81 attempts completed, while he also won an astonishing five tackles, the most on the pitch, as per FOTMOB.
The Belgian made six ball recoveries and also won the most ground duels, succeeding in eight of his 12 attempts.
Despite coming up against a tough Newcastle midfield trio in Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton and Sandro Tonali, Tielemans was the standout performer in the middle of the park, impressing in attacking and defensive metrics.
Tielemans helps fire Villa to victory
In addition to his defensive duel-winning and recoveries, Tielemans was also the driving force behind Villa’s creativity.
Tielemans recorded an assist and a big chance, while also creating three more chances with 18 passes into the final third.
He completed three of his four attempted long passes at a rate of 75 per cent, helping push Villa further up the pitch, but this was not his usual box-crashing performance as he recorded just one touch in the opposition box.
Clearly, dropping deeper helped Villa create more as a team, while keeping Newcastle at bay, and this selfless display from Tielemans was paramount to Villa’s victory.