John McGinn makes honest Newcastle United admission as Champions League race heats up

Add as preferred source on Google

Newcastle United were put to the sword by Aston Villa and John McGinn on Saturday night.

Going into the game, Newcastle United had won six matches in a row and were full of confidence amid their mission to qualify for the Champions League.

However, Unai Emery did his best to derail that momentum at Villa Park. Aston Villa beat Newcastle 4-1, comfortably swatting away Jason Tindall’s side.

The defeat exposed Newcastle’s lack of depth, while it also strengthened Aston Villa’s hopes of returning to the Champions League. However, those hopes then took a fresh hit on Tuesday night as they lost to Manchester City.

John McGinn says Aston Villa ‘owed’ Newcastle United one

Had Saturday’s game gone a different way, Newcastle United would be feeling extremely confident about qualifying for the Champions League.

That is why John McGinn has told Sky Sports that his side were determined to come out on top, admitting that Villa ‘owed’ Newcastle United one after losing 3-0 at St James’ Park earlier in the season.

“Everyone was aware that if Newcastle got a point or beat us, it would have been very unrealistic to catch them,” he said.

“We would have given it a bash, but it would have been really unrealistic.

“We knew how important it was. We definitely owed them one after the trouncing at St James’ Park. We always seem to go up there and get a bad result. To beat them in that manner was huge.”

Newcastle United’s recent record against Aston Villa

While it was a disappointing evening for Eddie Howe’s side, there is no doubt that Aston Villa were the better team.

As McGinn says, they owed Newcastle one after what happened at St James’ Park on Boxing Day. The Magpies blew Villa away that day, winning 3-0 courtesy of goals from Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and Joelinton.

Newcastle were also aided by Jhon Duran’s red card, as Villa played with 10 men for the majority of the game.

That was the third game in a row that Newcastle had hammered Villa at St James’ Park.

In the 2023/24 season, the Magpies won 5-1 on the opening day of the campaign as Sandro Tonali announced himself to the Premier League.

In the 2022/23 season, Newcastle were 4-0 winners as they galloped towards Champions League qualification.

Despite Villa’s revenge on Saturday, Newcastle are still in a decent position to qualify for next season’s Champions League. With five games to go, it remains in the Magpies’ hands.