Six points secured for Aston Villa during 4-1 win over Newcastle | OneFootball

Only 33 seconds. That's all it took for Ollie Watkins to find the breakthrough for Aston Villa. Sitting even with club record holder Gabby Agbonlahor, the striker will have to wait another day to pass that mark in the Premier League. That will be more than ok for the attacker, though, as he started what ended up being a 4-1 win at Villa Park.

What makes this victory that much more impressive is how Newcastle looked coming into Saturday. Winners of five straight in the EPL, NUFC had come off a pair of strong performances themselves after beating Crystal Palace 5-0 and Manchester United 4-1. On Saturday, the script flipped, and it was Villa who looked the better side and were unlucky to have not scored five or six goals on the afternoon.

The visitors found the equalizer, but the second set of 45 minutes once again showed how great this roster is. A lot of sides struggle over the course of 90 minutes. With this corps and the way Emery can turn to others to change the pace of the match at any point, AVFC gets stronger during the second halves of matches.

As the second 45 started, it was Watkins providing the service for Ian Maatsen. As the Dutchman put in another all-around great shift from his left back position. He gave Villa the lead through his overlapping run and had perfect placement to get the ball past Nick Pope.

Dan Burns put one in for the hosts as Jacob Ramsey was looking to find a run across the box from Youri Tielemans. It came from another well-timed substitution by Emery, as the lead was then further increased by Amadou Onana, who had also just entered the match. The fourth proved to be more than enough, although Marcus Rashford and Donyell Malen attempted and came close to further increasing the margin.

Strength of the entire squad

Between them and the efforts of Watkins, there are plenty of goals left for Villa, as there are only six remaining fixtures for this year's campaign. Entering after the opening whistle is giving players who feel they should be in the starting XI an increased desire to come onto the pitch and prove to Emery that they deserve more playing time.

This, along with the manager's tactics, allows Villa to always be a threat against anyone they go up against, particularly at home. With the six-point swing secured on the day and a strong 'starting 22,' AVFC continues to impress and look like a highly competitive threat to comfortably make a Champions League qualification spot.