With one team scoring after just 18 seconds and another after 21 seconds, the Premier League made an explosive return Tuesday following the competition’s short winter break.
Arsenal left it much later for its goals in a win that kept the pressure on Liverpool at the top.
Just when it looked like being another frustrating match for Arsenal’s often-profligate attack, Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka scored in the second half to help the team beat Nottingham Forest 2-1, jump into second place and trim the gap to first-place Liverpool to two points.
Arsenal might be able to maintain a title push heading into the final months of the campaign, but can Aston Villa?
Unai Emery’s team has been the big surprise this season but a 3-1 loss at home to Newcastle slowed its bid for a finish in the Champions League places, with Villa staying in fourth place.
There were five games in total and 16 goals scored, three of them coming for Luton striker Elijah Adebayo in a 4-0 thrashing of Brighton that lifted his team out of the relegation zone.
Adebayo’s first came after just 18 seconds and it was barely the quickest of the night, with Ben Brereton Diaz scoring after 21 seconds for Sheffield United in its 3-2 loss at Crystal Palace.
Fulham and Everton drew 0-0 in the other match on the opening night of the league’s midweek round.
NEWCASTLE 3, ASTON VILLA 1
BIRMINGHAM, England — Newcastle consigned Aston Villa to a first home loss in the Premier League for almost a year with a stunning 3-1 win on Tuesday.
Two goals in four first-half minutes from Fabian Schar put the Magpies in control before Alex Moreno’s own-goal after the break.
Ollie Watkins grabbed a consolation for the hosts, who lost in the league at Villa Park for the first time since last February.
Villa remains in fourth place but has played more games than first-place Liverpool and third-place Manchester City, and will be caught by Tottenham if the London club beats Brentford on Wednesday.
Newcastle had lost six of its previous seven league games to slip away from the top four but victory lifted the team to seventh place, although still 11 points behind Villa.
Newcastle thrashed Villa 5-1 in their opening game of the season but the direction of travel for the two sides has been different since then.
Only Sheffield United had previously taken a point from Villa Park this season as Unai Emery’s side mount a surprise Champions League charge, while the Magpies had won just once away.
Yet it was the visitors who dominated from the start and conjured the first serious chance after 20 minutes. Jacob Murphy’s sumptuous ball found Anthony Gordon with Ezri Konsa for company and he managed to wriggle clear, but Emi Martinez raced out to save.
The Magpies were slicker, with Villa uncharacteristically timid, and Clement Lenglet needed to block Sean Longstaff’s effort after Martinez spilled Murphy’s strike.
Soon after, Gordon broke clear only to see his drive deflected over as Newcastle began to find the gaps, which it then exploited with two quick-fire goals.
Douglas Luiz and Konsa got themselves into a mess trying to defend Kieran Trippier’s resulting corner and Schar nipped in to find the net for a 32nd-minute lead.
Four minutes later, only Matty Cash’s last-ditch clearance denied Gordon a second but Villa was then undone by a corner again.
It was only half-cleared to Gordon and his volley clipped Lenglet to come off the underside of the bar, Schar following up to fire in his second from close range. The defender had not scored in the league since August 2022.
The Magpies lost Alexander Isak to injury just before the break and John McGinn nodded over a rare Villa chance in stoppage time.
Villa fell further behind six minutes into the second half when Miguel Almiron, who had replaced Isak, robbed Cash on the halfway line for Gordon to then send him scampering down the right.
The Paraguayan’s delivery found Murphy at the far post and, when the winger tried to turn it in, Moreno ultimately bundled the ball into his own net.
Newcastle should have been cruising but Villa came back fighting and Watkins slipped in Moussa Diaby to round Martin Dubravka, only for Schar to mop up.
Dubravka also needed to turn Cash’s shot away before Watkins pulled one back with 19 minutes left when he turned in substitute Leon Bailey’s cross for his 50th Premier League goal.
Two minutes later, Watkins was denied by a tight VAR call after slotting in with Newcastle rocking but Villa’s momentum was halted.
CRYSTAL PALACE 3, SHEFFIELD UNITED 2
LONDON — Michael Olise marked his return to Crystal Palace’s team by scoring the winner in a 3-2 Premier League comeback victory over Sheffield United to ease the pressure on manager Roy Hodgson.
Ben Brereton Diaz, on loan from Villarreal, stunned the home support into silence when he netted the opener after only 21 seconds at Selhurst Park before Olise teed up Eberechi Eze for the equalizer.
James McAtee restored the Blades’ lead before Olise once again set up Eze, who leveled inside the first half-hour of a frenetic first period to complete his double.
Olise ensured his team came away with all three points by scoring in the 67th.
Anel Ahmedhodzic came close to salvaging a point for Sheffield United when he clipped the crossbar late in the second half, but the Premier League’s bottom side left with nothing and is nine points from safety.
Palace had come into the game having won just once in its last 10 league outings and Hodgson brushing aside suggestions that it was “must win”, partially pointing to the lengthy list of absentees in the first half of the campaign.
If Olise and Eze stay fit, Palace should be fine. The team is in 14th place, six points above the relegation zone.
