Tyrone Mings makes bizarre penalty claim after Newcastle thrash Aston Villa

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Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings believes they were ‘unlucky’ to concede a penalty against Newcastle United on Saturday.

The Magpies smashed Villa 4-0 at St James’ Park, making it eight games without defeat and a hat-trick of Premier League wins.

Eddie Howe’s side were completely dominant once they got the first goal, but it wasn’t straightforward up until that point.

Villa set out to frustrate Newcastle, and they did just that in the opening 45 minutes. There was a lengthy head injury that couldn’t be avoided, while there was also some playing for time from the away side.

But it culminated in 10 minutes of stoppage time being added on, which was when Newcastle came alive.

Callum Wilson picked up possession on the edge of the box before shifting it out to Miguel Almiron. He took on the first time shot, but it was blocked by Villa defender Ashley Young.

Almiron’s effort clearly struck Young’s arm, and the Toon players and fans quickly appealed for a penalty. Referee Paul Tierney thought the same, and emphatically pointed to the spot.

Wilson dispatched the penalty to score his first of two goals, and set Newcastle on their way to a big victory.

Mings’ view on Newcastle penalty

After the game, Mings spoke to Aston Villa’s club website. He discussed his side’s second half collapse, but had a strange observation on the penalty Newcastle were given in first half stoppage time.

“I think we were in the game for large spells, obviously we know what it’s going to be like coming here, it’s a very difficult place to come,” he said.

“But after last week, full of belief, full of confidence, we felt like we could cause them problems.

“The penalty is so unlucky, but coming out for the second half we knew we had to stay in the game, we had to be hard to beat, we had to be hard to break down.

“And we weren’t; so we thoroughly deserve what we got.”

Nothing ‘unlucky’ about penalty decision

I’m not sure what part of the penalty decision Mings thought was ‘unlucky’. The handball from Young would only have been more blatant if he’d actually caught it.

In fairness, it is probably unlucky in the sense that Young has slid to block to the shot and it’s hit his arm. However, his arm is clearly in an unnatural position, and he took that risk when he lunged in to desperately stop the shot.

There is no doubting that it was a penalty, and it gave Newcastle the confidence to go on and thump Aston Villa. From their perspective, they completely crumbled. The Magpies’ tails were up after the first goal, while Villa simply didn’t respond.

Mings and the rest of the Villa defence became massively ragged, and Howe’s side easily could have scored more than four.

While Mings might think the penalty call was ‘unlucky’, their second half display was downright rotten. Newcastle put them to the sword, and further solidified themselves as European contenders.