Newcastle and Aston Villa played out a 3-3 thriller in the Premier League Summer Series in a match that saw Harvey Barnes make his debut, hours after signing for Eddie Howe’s side.
Villa’s newest recruit and club record signing Moussa Diaby was in the stands to watch his new team take on Newcastle at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Villa went in front with just seven minutes on the clock after Emi Buendia brushed aside Sandro Tonali and burst forward, before finding Ollie Watkins who opened the scoring.
Unai Emery’s side didn’t need long to double their advantage, with Buendia in the thick of the action again, receiving it out wide, doing a few stepovers before hammering the ball past Martin Dubravka.
Newcastle pulled a goal back just before the half-hour. Villa’s high line exposed as Elliott Anderson was put through to coolly finish after cutting the ball back before rolling it past Emi Martinez.
And it was all square in first-half added time after Boubacar Kamara was robbed of the ball by Anderson. His shot rebounded into the path of Alexander Isak, who couldn’t miss.
Buendia reinstated Villa’s lead early in the second half but once again their lead did not last long.
Newcastle got their third to grab a draw. Robin Olsen parried Anthony Gordon’s shot, but Callum Wilson was on hand to pass into an empty net.
Barnes, who completed a move to Newcastle from Leicester over the weekend, managed to get on with 20 minutes to go, despite not actually having had a training session with his team-mates.
Premier League Summer Series fixtures still to play
WednesdayJuly 26
Brentford vs Brighton, kick-off 10.30pm BST (Mercedes-Benz Stadium; Atlanta, GA)
ThursdayJuly 27th
Fulham vs Aston Villa, kick off 12am BST (Exploria Stadium; Orlando, FL)
Newcastle United vs Chelsea, kick-off 1.15am BST (Mercedes-Benz Stadium; Atlanta, GA)
SaturdayJuly 29th
Brighton vs Newcastle United, kick-off 12.30am BST (Red Bull Arena; Harrison, New Jersey)
sundayjuly 30
Aston Villa vs Brentford, kick off 5pm BST (FedExField; Landover, Maryland)
Chelsea vs Fulham, kick off 7.45pm BST (FedExField; Landover, Maryland)
How to watch free Premier League highlights
Throughout the 2023/24 season, you can watch Premier League match highlights for free – without being a Sky Sports subscriber.
You’ll find highlights from every Premier League game in the Score Centre, as well as on the Sky Sports website other Sky Sports app shortly after full time, or from 5.15pm for midday Saturday kick-offs. You can also watch them on the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel.
Sign up for Premier League goal alerts
The Premier League drama keeps coming – make sure you don’t miss a thing by signing up for goal alerts with the Sky Sports Score Center app.
Want news of goals as they hit the back of the net? Want to know when your team’s free match highlights are available? At one game but want to keep track of all the major incidents elsewhere?
It’s simple – just set up goal alerts and other notifications on the Sky Sports Football Score Center app.
Not added the Score Center App yet? Download it for iOS devices gold Android.