Analysis: Ollie Watkins' double puts Aston Villa in sight of a beautiful ending

With six weeks of the season to play, Villa are in contention for a Champions League place.

Barmy as that sentence would have been to write just a few weeks ago, it is now undoubtedly true and much as Unai Emery’s team might be outsiders and their chances slim, no-one in the race is in better form.

Certainly not Newcastle, who arrived at Villa Park on Saturday aiming to extend a run of five straight wins but left having suffered their heaviest and most comprehensive defeat of the season. By the final whistle, the Magpies were thankful the scoreline was only 3-0.

Quite where it ranked on the list of Villa’s best performances of recent years is hard to say.

That 7-2 battering of Liverpool probably tops it for “wow” factor but on that occasion their opponents did score and there were no supporters in the stands to see it. On Saturday, Villa’s players stood triumphant in front of a packed Holte End, soaking in the acclaim each of them to a man deserved.

Captain John McGinn later admitted one of the biggest challenges will keeping feet on the ground. It will not be easy. Right now the Scot and his team-mates must feel like they are 10 feet tall. They are certainly playing like it.

The visit of a Newcastle team beaten just three times previously in the league was supposed to be the acid test for Villa, whose own run of six wins in seven matches was seen by some observers as simply the product of a favourable fixture list.

Instead, it was Emery’s men who delivered the reality check. From the moment Ollie Watkins struck the post after being sent scampering clear by Jacob Ramsey inside the opening 30 seconds, they were in control. It wasn’t that Newcastle couldn’t find a response. They weren’t even allowed to try.

Villa have now taken 38 points from 18 matches under Emery and the truth is, since the Spaniard’s arrival, they have played like a top four team. The only question may be whether there is sufficient time left in the season for them to attain such a position in the table?

On Saturday night, the toughest challenge was selecting a man of the match. The entire starting XI could lay claim to the prize. Douglas Luiz continued his excellent form with a near pass perfect performance while Leander Dendoncker, making his first Premier League start in more than five months, slotted into midfield alongside the Brazilian as though he had never been away.

At left-back, meanwhile, Alex Moreno delivered his best performance to date, snuffing out Newcastle attacks and helping to spark several of Villa’s. It was the Spaniard who delivered the cross from which Watkins struck Villa’s second, three minutes after the pair had combined for an effort chalked off by VAR for the most marginal of offside calls.

The two players who perhaps best epitomised Villa’s hunger were the pair who are likely to battle it out for the player-of-the-season prize a few weeks from now, Watkins and Tyrone Mings.

Watkins, who set up Ramsey’s 11th-minute opener with a deft header, has now scored 11 times in the last 12 matches and equalled his previous Premier League best of 14 for the season. The 20-goal mark feels very much in range, particularly should he continue in the same relentless spirit displayed against the Magpies. Watkins had already struck the woodwork, twice been denied by goalkeeper Nick Pope and then VAR before finally getting his first of the afternoon. His refusal to be frustrated summed up the sense neither he nor Villa were to be denied their moment.

On the rare occasions Newcastle did sense an opening, Mings was invariably there to close it. A diving block to deny Miguel Almiron 15 minutes from time was perhaps the most notable incident but there were several others as Villa claimed their sixth clean sheet in eight matches and fourth straight at home. The watching Gareth Southgate, who overlooked both Mings and Watkins for the most recent England squad, must surely have been impressed.

The sole focus for both players, for now, is on club honours and grasping the opportunity they and Villa have created. Though the top four might appear a long shot, fifth place and a guaranteed spot in the Europa League certainly isn’t. Villa’s next two matches, away to a Brentford team they now lead by seven points and then at home to Fulham, one point further adrift, are now key battles in that particular race.

Villa Park can often feel a fatalistic place and even at the high points there has always been the expectation that, at some stage, the good times must end. Right at this moment, Emery is making supporters believe just maybe, this time, it might be different.

The Spaniard remains the coolest man in the building. There was maybe a slightly bigger smile and just a couple more waves to the crowd as he turned and walked directly down the touchline at the final whistle. Otherwise, he remained a picture of sobriety amid the sea of celebrations.

But the passion is there, you better believe it.

Writing in his programme notes, Emery claimed his team had the chance “to fight for something beautiful” between now and the end of the season.

The prize is currently getting prettier with every week.