After falling 3-0 to Unai Emery’s team last weekend, Callum Wilson says Newcastle United underestimated Aston Villa’s talents.
Villa were hammered 4-0 at St. James’ Park in October, and Wilson said his team fell into the “trap” of believing they could inflict equal damage on their opponents like last time out.
Newcastle had won five straight games prior to their visit to Villa Park, but a win for the hosts meant Emery’s side had now won seven of their past eight league games.
In the 11th minute, Jacob Ramsey opened the scoring against Newcastle, before Ollie Watkins netted his first brace of the season, netting his 13th and 14th goals of the season.
Wilson lauded Villa’s performance in the aftermath of Newcastle’s defeat.
Callum Wilson on Aston Villa’s performance on Sunday
Wilson said on the Footballer’s Football Podcast: “I like to give credit when it’s due.
“What I will say is Villa played well, they played very well. You have to give credit to them. Yes, we have to focus on ourselves. We didn’t turn up really, but they played good football.
“I was surprised because the turnaround from when we did play them earlier in the season, it was worlds apart and I’d say we probably fell into the trap of knowing what we were going to expect but letting it happen, in terms of tactics and what they were going to do and things like that and losing the second balls and ground duels.
“And if that happens in the Premier League, we get exposed and ultimately, it’s a bad day at the office. It’s gone. They were good. We weren’t on the day, but we got to fight another day. We lost the battle but we are still in with a chance of winning the war.”
It was a rare off-day for Newcastle, who finished second best across the board on Saturday.
Next up for the Magpies is a clash against their top-four contenders Tottenham Hotspur, who sits just below Newcastle with a three-point margin having played a game more.
This will be the first game at St James’ Park for a while so the crowd could be absolutely buzzing.
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