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Don’t get too carried away… but Newcastle United are top of the Premier League after a barnstorming start to the 2023/24 campaign. Many thought the opening weekend clash with Aston Villa would be a tight affair before watching the Magpies stick five beyond Unai Emery’s side at St James’ Park.
Sandro Tonali, Newcastle’s £52m summer signing, got his Tyneside career off to a perfect start by scoring after six minutes. Alexander Isak helped himself to two goals, before Callum Wilson and Harvey Barnes both came off the bench to find the net in the 5-1 win.
Eddie Howe was full of praise for his impressive crop of players, while the Geordie faithful were out celebrating long into Saturday night. Here are the moments you may have missed from the emphatic win.
READ MORE: ‘I fell in love’ – Eddie Howe hails ‘outstanding’ Sandro Tonali after heroic Newcastle debut
Staveley’s transfer message
Before Newcastle got off to winning ways, the key players of the club’s ownership were interviewed about their expectations and excitement for the new season. Amanda Staveley, Mehrdad Ghodoussi and Jamie Reuben were pitchside to discuss the new era on Tyneside with Sky Sports before the action got going.
Naturally, attention turned to Newcastle’s transfer business after an impressive £120m outlay so far this summer. Staveley, who has often throws herself into transfer negotiations for the Magpies, admits she is extremely happy with the three recent arrivals at St James’ Park.
“I’m delighted. We’ve had a busy transfer window,” she said. “We do have Financial Fair Play constraints so we had to be very, very savvy on bringing right players in but we’ve welcomed three fantastic players in.
“They’ve joined us and this will be their first Premier League game and we’re excited to give them proper St James’ Park welcome. Welcoming new players part of business plan but we will be looking forward to having a slightly deeper squad in the next few months.”
Bruno falls victim to new rules
The Premier League are clamping down on a number of issues this season as they seek to better protect referees and officials during matches. There has also been strict new stoppage time rules brought in across the English game to try and stop time-wasting.
Bruno Guimaraes was the first Newcastle player to discover one of these new rules the hard way, as Saturday’s referee Andy Madley showed him a yellow card in the second-half. The Brazilian, who had just watched Sandro Tonali being dragged to the floor by an Aston Villa player, ran up to the official and waved an imaginary yellow card in his face.
Instead, it was Bruno who was given the booking for his actions, as Madley whipped out the yellow and pointed it in the Newcastle man’s direction. The pair then spent the next few minutes discussing the issue, with the ref explaining players can no longer ask for opposition stars to be cautioned.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was booked in the Community Shield last weekend after waving an imaginary yellow card in an attempt to get a Manchester City player booked.
Diaby given St James’ Park welcome
For many, Moussa Diaby was going to be the man to take Newcastle to the next level. The Frenchman, 24, was heavily linked with a move to Tyneside last summer while at Bayer Leverkusen – but a transfer never materialised.
Aston Villa wasted no time pouncing on the rapid winger this summer, bringing him to the West Midlands in a deal worth £52m. Diaby was a threat for the first-half against Newcastle and found the net with a well-taken volley to level the score after only 11 minutes.
But some Newcastle fans clearly haven’t forgiven the fact the Frenchman isn’t playing in black and white, as they loudly booed when his name was read out by the St James’ Park announcer. Thankfully Newcastle have added Harvey Barnes on the opposite flank to add goals from out wide.
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