Villa's victory, courtesy of goals from Ollie Watkins, Ian Maatsen, a Dan Burn own goal, and Amadou Onana, was a masterclass in how to turn the tables on a team that had been riding high.

Despite the loss, Newcastle remains in third place with 59 points from 33 games. But Kieran Trippier, the Newcastle defender, isn't buying the 'tiredness' excuse. He's calling for his teammates to stay sharp and focused.

“They scored straight away, but we had a good reaction in the first half. Full credit to Villa, they're a top side with a top manager. They played very well and are a strong team,” Trippier told Sky Sports.

“You go into every game to win. Today we were confident but Villa played very well and they deserved their victory.”

“We can't use tiredness as an excuse,” he added. “The manager picks the eleven, we've been unchanged and that's it. We focus on the next game and that's against Ipswich.”

“We want to qualify for the Champions League. Today was a setback but we've got a full week to recover and analyze where we went wrong.”

“You come into games like this against teams like this and it's a bit of a reality check maybe,” Trippier concluded.