Soccer Football - Premier League - Newcastle United v Aston Villa - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - August 12, 2023 Aston Villa's Tyrone Mings is carried off the pitch in a stretcher after sustaining an injury Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith
NEWCASTLE, England (Reuters) - Aston Villa manager Unai Emery was disappointed with his side's 5-1 capitulation away to Newcastle United, but even worse was the loss of key defender Tyrone Mings to a first-half injury.
Mings went to ground after a seemingly innocent tussle with Newcastle forward Alexander Isak, and after a lengthy break for treatment he was removed from the pitch on a stretcher in the 31st minute and taken to a local hospital.
The injury to Mings comes days after the Birmingham side lost Emiliano Buendia to a serious knee injury that will reportedly keep him out for up to eight months.
"It doesn’t look good. He is injured. This week has been very tough. We lost Emi Buendia and today we lost Tyrone Mings, two important players in the squad," Emery told the BBC.
"Everything this week is not working well but we are going to react. I want to be positive with the players we have, and we can change the situation."
Villa's defence fell apart after Mings left the field and Newcastle rattled in four second-half goals, lifting the home side to the top of the table to the delight of coach Eddie Howe.
"We’re very pleased. It was a tough game, Aston Villa are a very good team. We knew we had to be at our best. We scored five, we could have scored more but they were also in the game," Howe told the BBC.
"It was a tight game decided by our ruthlessness in front of goal. Everything clicked for us today ... Now we have to go to Manchester City, which is the hardest place to go. We've got to embrace the challenge and then of course, Liverpool, but we will focus on Man City first," he added.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
