Unai Emery urges Aston Villa to have 'perspective' after Newcastle set back

Villa slumped to a 3-1 defeat against the Magpies, their first loss on home turf since February 18 last year.

But Emery expressed pride in what his players had achieved over the last 11 months when addressing them after the final whistle.

He said: “I told the players I am very proud of them. I am very proud of our work in Villa Park.

“The loss has to come. Tonight is one day.

“What we did was fantastic and we can’t lose perspective.

“The perspective is against a team like Newcastle, playing the way they did tonight, it is not easy to win.

“We are in the top five but there are other teams bigger contenders than us to get there. One is Newcastle, another is Chelsea.

“We are being competitive and consistent. Of course, losing tonight we are a little bit disappointed, we are a little bit frustrated. We are not happy with this result but I have to understand our perspective.

“I prepared what I was going to tell our players a long time before, what I would say when we lost a home game. Tonight was the night it happened.”

Listless Villa found themselves 2-0 down at the break as the unlikely figure of Fabian Schar netted twice for the visitors.

An Alex Moreno own goal then left them in a bigger hole before the introduction of Leon Bailey, who had been struggling with a back injury, provided a forward threat.

The Jamaica international set up Ollie Watkins for the latter’s 50th Premier League goal, the only consolation of the worst home league performance of Emery’s reign.

Villa served up one of their best in a 3-0 win over Newcastle last year and Emery said: “We were successful last year in the duels more last year.

“They were pressing high and pushing us man to man. Tonight it was difficult for us to overcome individual situations.

“We created two or three chances in the first half but we conceded more than normal.

“We knew their power was set pieces. They scored two corners against Fulham and scored tonight against us, two corners.”