BIRMINGHAM: Aston Villa survived defender Ezri Konsa’s dismissal to salvage a 0-0 draw at home to Newcastle United in their Premier League opener today, with the visitors missing want-away striker Alexander Isak as they created chances but failed to finish.
Newcastle’s new signing Anthony Elanga almost scored in the third minute but Marco Bizot made an excellent reflex save on his league debut to deny the winger and the Dutchman was called into action several more times as Eddie Howe’s side dominated.
Villa managed to steady the ship but were thrown into disarray in the 66th minute when Konsa was shown a straight red card for pulling down Newcastle forward Anthony Gordon while he was in hot pursuit of a through ball from Elanga.
Newcastle continued to fire crosses into the box but without a recognised centre forward such as Sweden international Isak, who wants to leave amid interest from champions Liverpool, they could not convert them and the game ended in a stalemate.