NEWCASTLE — Johan Manzambi haunted the club he rejected in the summer as his header secured Aston Villa a 1-0 victory at Newcastle on Saturday. The Switzerland midfielder, who turned 21 on Wednesday, was unmarked eight yards out when he met Joao Gomes' excellent cross to settle the contest in the north east, his third goal in Villa colours since a club-record move of just over £50m from Freiburg.
Manzambi had seen Villa's quality first hand last season when his Freiburg side were comprehensively beaten 3-0 in the Europa League final in Istanbul, with Unai Emery's side scoring three times in the opening hour. Asked why he chose Villa Park over St James' Park, he said: "The team was very good and I played against them in the final. It's a very good team with a big coach and that was perfect for me." Emery was delighted with his impact, saying: "He has made a very good impact with his qualities. Skills and intelligence, both he has, and his physicality is very important as well to help us defensively and to help us try to keep the duels offensively. So happy he has scored another goal, fantastic for him."
The winner follows goals in the 3-2 victory at Tottenham and the 6-0 thrashing of Fenerbahce in the Champions League on Wednesday. Since his first start for Villa on 19 September against Spurs, only Manchester City's Erling Haaland — with six — has been involved in more goals among Premier League players in all competitions than Manzambi's five (three goals, two assists). In the Bundesliga last season he ranked first in his position for progressive carries of 10 metres or more (116), shot-ending carries (13) and fouls won (78), and he impressed at the World Cup with two goals in Switzerland's 4-1 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, a goal and an assist in the 2-1 victory over co-hosts Canada and an assist in the 2-0 success over Algeria before a knee injury ruled him out of the last-16 penalty shootout win over Colombia and quarter-final loss to Argentina. His form has earned a place on the 10-man shortlist for the Kopa Trophy, awarded to the world's best player aged under 21, alongside Spain World Cup winners Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi and Yan Diomande, who has since moved to Real Madrid, with the winner to be named on 26 October.
Team-mate Nicolas Jackson, who joined Villa in a deal worth up to £65m from Chelsea and has scored five times since his arrival, said: "He's an amazing player. He's still growing. Hopefully he can be better and better every game, score goals and assist me as well. Hopefully we work together and achieve many things together. He will go a long way and hopefully gets no injuries." Villa are much changed from the side that won in Istanbul, with Emiliano Martinez, Lucas Digne, Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins all leaving in high-profile moves, while substitutes Harvey Elliott, Jadon Sancho and Leon Bailey have also departed. After taking just one point from their opening four league matches, Villa have taken seven points from their past three league games to climb to 12th and extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to five matches. They also have six points from two Champions League ties and are into the last 16 of the Carabao Cup away at Bournemouth.
Six Newcastle players were cautioned, including Sven Botman for an over-the-ball challenge on Jackson in the first half that the forward felt warranted a red. "I know the referee said yellow card but it was so high and hopefully maybe next time a red card, but it was a yellow," Jackson said. "I nearly broke my leg but anyway it's part of football. The most important thing is we win and we won, so I'm OK." Emery added: "It was very important after our poor start [to the season] that we needed to try to come back feeling confident, feeling comfortable in how we are building our structure. The players themselves tried to be demanding to change the situation where we are. Through the [Premier] league we are going to achieve our priority this year, so the league is the competition where we must try to be very consistent." Villa now entertain Norwegian side Viking in the Champions League on Wednesday before hosting a Manchester City side who have won all seven of their Premier League matches this season.