Newcastle United's five-match winning run came to an abrupt end on Saturday as they suffered their heaviest defeat of the season at Aston Villa. Jacob Ramsey's opener and a brace from Ollie Watkins earned the hosts a deserved 3-0 win over the Magpies.
Here is a round-up of what the national media had to say after a rare off-day for Eddie Howe's side.
'Comfortably second best'
Matthew Howard wrote for BBC Sport: "Regardless of whether they achieve Champions League qualification, Newcastle have had a magnificent campaign, but they were comfortably second best here. They recovered from a slow start at Brentford last weekend to claim a fifth league win in succession, but they rarely threatened to get back in the game after Ramsey's opener and could have lost by a much bigger margin.
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"They struggled to cope with the pace of the sensational Watkins, who was making darting runs between Trippier and Fabian Schar at every opportunity. Callum Wilson and the fit-again Miguel Almiron were brought on 11 minutes into the second half, but they had little impact as Villa continued to create the better openings."
'This was a demolition'
Lewis Steele wrote for the MailOnline: "Right now they are a steam train, blowing away all in their wake, with third-placed Newcastle, the best defence in the league, the latest victims made to look bang average by Unai Emery’s fluid team.
This was a demolition and the scoreline flatters Newcastle. One cannot recall Eddie Howe’s side outplayed like this since his first weeks at the club. Howe apologised to the travelling fans on Saturday and said his side ‘did not represent themselves well’."
'Alarmingly outplayed'
Chris Waugh wrote for the Athletic: "Fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur visit St James’ Park next weekend, which means Newcastle head into a potentially season-defining fixture against a direct rival for a Champions League spot after delivering what Howe called the “worst performance” of the season. Arguably, it was the most disappointing of his entire 17-month tenure.
"The scale of the Villa defeat was stark. The scoreline arguably flattered Newcastle, who were alarmingly outplayed in every area."
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