February 15, (THEWILL) — Newcastle United overturned an early deficit to defeat Aston Villa 3-1 in the fourth round of the FA Cup, with Sandro Tonali scoring twice after Marco Bizot’s red card shifted the momentum. Eddie Howe’s team fell behind to Tammy Abraham’s opener but capitalised ruthlessly after Villa were reduced to 10 men.
Abraham marked his return from Besiktas with his first Villa goal in the 14th minute, converting Douglas Luiz’s free-kick despite appearing to be in an offside position. VAR will not be operational until the next round of the competition, and that absence worked in Villa’s favour. Leon Bailey missed a headed opportunity and Luiz sent a long-range shot over the bar before Villa’s afternoon unravelled.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men in stoppage time at the end of the first period when Bizot raced 40 yards from his goal to foul Jacob Murphy, who had been played through by Harvey Barnes. Leon Bailey made way for Emiliano Martinez at the break, and Newcastle pressed hard early in the second half. Lucas Digne escaped a red card for a challenge on Murphy and was fortunate not to concede a penalty when he handled Kieran Trippier’s cross.
Tonali levelled in the 63rd minute with a deflected effort from the resulting free-kick, then gave Newcastle the lead 14 minutes from time with a precise strike into the bottom-left corner. The Italian’s double completed the turnaround and left Villa’s 10 men struggling to contain the visitors.
Nick Woltemade sealed the result in the 88th minute, finishing high into the roof of the net after Pau Torres inadvertently played the ball into his path. The birthday boy’s late goal confirmed Newcastle’s progression to the fifth round and ended Villa’s hopes of salvaging the tie.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
