Newcastle United were glorious again against Aston Villa but their 2-0 win did not come without sacrifice as top scorer Dwight Gayle left the pitch after 32 minutes with a muscle injury.

Manager Rafael Benitez gave his insight into Gayle's potential recurring hamstring problems, in addition to a reflection on the game in general as his team overtook Brighton & Hove Albion at the top of the Championship table.

Too soon to say

Gayle's hamstring issue has kept him out of the squad for over a month, despite being cleared for the Norwich City match.

Making his first start since the injury was always risky but unfortunately it led to the worst case scenario with Gayle's return ended early.

However, Benitez said that it is "too soon" to be able to tell whether or not it was a repeat of the problem that previously sidelined the striker.

Giving a small amount of insight, the Magpies boss said: "It seemed liked it could be the same [injury]. We'll have to check but it's too soon to say anything."

A difficult test

The scoreline and clean sheet suggests that the win against Villa was easy but in a gritty match, Newcastle had some strokes of luck.

However, Benitez was happy with how his players conducted themselves in accordance to his plan as he said: "The idea was to play as well as possible because then you have more chances to win games,"

"It was a difficult first half," the Spaniard continued. "They were pressing quite high and when we scored the goal you could see in the second half they were more open and we could play like we wanted to."

In the second half, following Yoan Gouffran's goal, the Magpies looked brighter. Hinting at what he said in his changing room team talk, Benitez said: "[After half-time] we were focused on not making mistakes and giving them any chances, [and to] win some second balls we weren't winning and have more control of the game."

The manager always suspected that the match would be a tough one, adding that Villa "have great players" and explaining: "We knew it could be difficult, but at the same time we know to keep going and keep pushing then we'll have chances."

Keeping focus despite victory

Slowly but surely, the Magpies are regaining the confidence that they exhibited in the early months of the season, despite having to grind out some results.

At the heart of this is Benitez's calm and collected exterior, and when probed about the cluster of matches that are coming up - including multiple away fixtures - he gave a sensible response.

"The main thing is Bristol City and after we'll think about the others," he said. "We'll enjoy today a little bit and then prepare for the next game. it's one game at a time."

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Katie Mishner
Women football writer and Newcastle United supporter. Email: [email protected]