Elmohamady keeps Villa’s listing ship afloat
ASTON VILLA are like a life raft with a puncture. You can see the air escaping, which does not inspire confidence, but you cannot decide whether it is going to float long enough to be rescued or deflate and sink.
It has been like that all season. When you look at the players Villa have, the money spent, you think they should be good enough to stay up. But when you watch them play, you start to suspect they might not.
On one hand, they rescued a point from a losing position here, Ahmed Elmohamady’s glancing header going under goalkeeper Martin Dubravka late on. On other, they failed to get the win that would have generated real confidence in their survival fight.
“A point away from home is a good result,” said goalscorer Elmohamady. “We looked more solid and we created a number of good chances… we finished strongly too.”
Maybe, but this was a game Dean Smith’s side should have won against hosts in such generous and relaxed mood, and they did not. A point is fine, but not really good enough as they remain in the bottom three.
Newcastle are surprisingly content with life after lockdown, already safe in the Premier League for another year, black and white minds had inevitably begun to turn towards Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final against Man City.
Yet, they still had enough to take the lead, as their two substitutes Andy Carroll and Dwight Gayle combing at a throw in, four defenders bunched together and taken out of the game by a square pass from the former, which the latter slotted home with a clinical finish. It was Gayle’s first and second touches, his first goal of the season coming 94 seconds after coming on.
Newcastle should have held on to win too, only for a rare mistake from Dubravka, but Villa should have been in front long before that.
They were the better of two poor teams in the first half but could not score. It has been a familiar failing.
They had two chances inside the first 15 minutes. The first came when Trezeguet failed to convert at the far post, hitting a shot into the ground and over the bar. The second when Anwar El Ghazi’s cross was flighted perfectly for Mbwana Samatta to head in, only for the striker to glance it wide.
The match was played at almost walking pace, Newcastle lacking intensity, Villa lacked composure and despite some intense late pressure, the visitors could not make it count.
It is why they have been in relegation trouble all season and it is why they will probably remain in it until the final weekend. They might have enough, they might not. (© Daily Telegraph, London)