Newcastle United reserved their worst display of the season at Villa Park on a day when they never looked like scoring.
After brilliant displays on the road at Brentford and West Ham, they were no match for Unai Emery's resurgent Aston Villa as their Champions League hopes suffered a major scrape in the second city. Unfortunately, for the Magpies they ran into Villa on their best afternoon of the campaign so far with Ollie Watkins in superb form in front of the watching England boss Gareth Southgate.
Given Newcastle have been relegated at this venue twice in 2009 and 2016, the pain after this defeat felt rather mild in comparison. However, Eddie Howe's internal inquest over where it all went wrong will start immediately.