Newcastle are safely in that elite group…so they could afford the odd defeat – Pat Nevin | OneFootball

Pat Nevin sees a lot of Newcastle United.

The former Chelsea and Everton winger a regular visitor at St James’ Park.

However, on this occasion, Pat Nevin was watching United at Villa Park.

The player turned pundit working for BBC Sport at the Aston Villa v Newcastle United match at the weekend.

Pat Nevin declaring about Villa after the 4-1 home victory; ‌”When you get two well-matched teams playing in a situation where one side desperately wants to win, but the other needs to win, the usual outcome is the team who needs the victory gets it. These were the stakes at Villa Park, Unai Emery’s men simply had to get all three points to get back in the Champions League-chasing pack.”

Nevin adding though; “Newcastle are safely in that elite group, for the moment, so they could afford the odd defeat.”

Pat Nevin speaking to BBC Sport Live following Aston Villa 4 Newcastle 1 (and before Villa’s 2-1 defeat to Man City):

‘I was lucky to be covering the match of the weekend at Villa Park and bold enough to predict there would be quite a few goals – but maybe it wasn’t that brave considering the two attack-minded teams.

‌When you get two well-matched teams playing in a situation where one side desperately wants to win, but the other needs to win, the usual outcome is the team who needs the victory gets it. These were the stakes at Villa Park, Unai Emery’s men simply had to get all three points to get back in the Champions League-chasing pack.

‌Newcastle are safely in that elite group, for the moment, so they could afford the odd defeat.

‌Villa won easily but can they keep the impressive run going, with this streak of high-stress, difficult games not stopping any time soon?

Next up is Manchester City, not the easiest of away games and then the FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace. There may well be a cup final and a top-five finish on the horizon and they look to me to be in better shape than any of their challengers.

‌The depth and quality are stunning. Amadou Onana, Marcus Rashford, Donyell Malen and Jacob Ramsey were fabulously effective substitutes on Saturday, and there are still more top players in reserve.