Former Newcastle United transfer target Johan Manzambi was the match-winner as Aston Villa earned a 1-0 victory over Matthias Jaissle's side at a disgruntled St. James' Park.
Newcastle United 0-1 Aston Villa: Manzambi downs former suitors as Jaissle's struggles continue
Johan Manzambi almost became a Newcastle United player this summer, but instead, he was Aston Villa's hero as they won 1-0 on Tyneside.
Manzambi had looked set to join Newcastle from Freiburg in July, only for that deal to be successfully hijacked by Villa, and on Saturday, he continued his superb start to Premier League life at the Magpies' expense.
His 36th-minute header gave Unai Emery's side a lead they would not relinquish, with Newcastle being booed off following their second Premier League defeat in a row.
It was Villa who started on the front foot as Nicolas Jackson shot straight at Lukas Hornicek with the outside of his boot, while Sven Botman was arguably fortunate to avoid a red card after clattering the former Chelsea and Bayern Munich forward.
Jackson continued to be heavily involved as his curler flicked off Botman and faded wide, but it was Manzambi who opened the scoring.
He was left totally unmarked when Joao Gomes floated a cross in from the right flank, and though Hornicek got a hand to his header, there was simply too much power for the Czech to keep it out.
Newcastle had a huge reprieve when Emiliano Buendia's shot smacked off the post and hit Hornicek on the back, with no claret shirts ready to pounce on what would have been a tap-in, and the half-time whistle brought boos from the disgruntled home fans.
Having scored a wonder-goal in Newcastle's 4-1 defeat at Coventry City five days earlier, Botman almost repeated the trick with a well-struck effort that Zion Suzuki had to push wide, while Yoane Wissa headed over as the hosts grew increasingly desperate.
Hornicek tipped a drive from Villa substitute Ross Barkley around his right-hand post, as Villa combined their resolute defensive work with incisive counter-attacking.
Ibrahim Mbaye had two opportunities to get a clinching goal off the bench, one of which saw him power over at the near post, while the second saw his reverse shot fade wide following a mazy dribble.
But with Wissa planting his final attempt wide of the right post and Victor Lindelof throwing himself in front of the ball amid a late scramble in the Villa area, Newcastle were unable to find an equaliser.
Manzambi shows Newcastle what they are missing
Things could have been very different had Manzambi signed on the dotted line at St. James', but the draw of UEFA Champions League football lured him to Villa.
And the Switzerland international has now been directly involved in five goals in four starts for Villa in all competitions, scoring three and assisting two.
Manzambi is just the fourth player to either score or assist on each of his first three Premier League starts for Villa, after Dalian Atkinson in August 1992, Dion Dublin in November 1998 and Danny Ings in August 2021.
By contrast, Newcastle's big-money attacking signing – Matias Fernandez-Pardo – has only had two shots in five Premier League games this campaign (one on target) and is still yet to score. He was quiet again on Saturday before being withdrawn in the 56th minute.
The Magpies were truly dismal in the first half, with Villa goalkeeper Suzuki completing more passes prior to the interval (24) than any home player, and Newcastle's 16-game run without a clean sheet at home (in all competitions) is now the longest in their history.
Emery, meanwhile, was left to celebrate his 100th Premier League win across spells with Arsenal and Villa, reaching that tally in 197 games (D44 L53) – he is the joint-ninth fastest manager to reach a century of victories in the competition.
