Aston Villa beat Newcastle United 2-0 to keep pace with Arsenal and Manchester City in the Premier League title race
Aston Villa's Emi Buendia celebrates his goal with Matty Cash and Jadon Sancho
Emi Buendia's beauty set Aston Villa on course to victory over Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon(Image: Lee Parker - CameraSport via Getty Images)
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Aston Villa managed to keep pace in the Premier League title race with a comfortable 2-0 victory away to Newcastle United at St. James' Park on Sunday afternoon.
Unai Emery's men needed to bounce back after defeat to Everton last weekend, and especially as Manchester City had already claimed three points this weekend with a win over Wolves. After a nervy start, a superb Emi Buendia strike from outside of the 18-yard box opened the scoring on Tyneside.
Villa goalkeeper made good saves to deny Sandro Tonali and Lewis Miley, and victory was wrapped up by Ollie Watkins in the closing stages.
As things now stand, Villa sit third with 46 points though are level with second-placed City. Both clubs are four points behind current league leaders Arsenal, who only kick-off their weekend fixture late on Sunday.
Here, Birmingham LIVE takes a look at Villa’s upcoming Premier League fixture list compared to their title rivals;
Aston Villa's next five Premier League fixtures
Brentford (H) - February 1
Bournemouth (A) - February 7
Brighton (H) - February 11
Leeds United (H) - February 21
Wolves (A) - February 27
Brentford, Bournemouth and Brighton are all part of the pack chasing qualification for European competitions next season. They should provide tests similar in difficulty to the one experienced at Newcastle this Sunday.
Following on, both Leeds United and Wolves are further down the table and fighting relegation. Villa will hope to come away with maximum points from these fixtures.
Arsenal's next five Premier League fixtures
Manchester United (H) - January 25
Leeds United (A) - January 31
Sunderland (H) - February 7
Brentford (A) - February 12
Tottenham Hotspur (A) - February 22
Man City's next five Premier League fixtures
Tottenham Hotspur (A) - February 1
Liverpool (A) - February 8
Fulham (H) - February 11
Newcastle United (H) - February 21
Leeds United (A) - February 28