Premier League: Newcastle 1 Aston Villa 1

A Hatem Ben Arfa wonder strike salvaged a 1-1 draw for Newcastle at home to Aston Villa, after the visitors gave Alan Pardew’s men a scare.

Pardew made no changes to the side who lost 2-0 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in their last Premier League game but opposite manager Paul Lambert changed five of his starting eleven, bringing in Brad Guzan, Eric Lichaj, Brett Holman, Stephen Ireland and Andreas Weimann.

However it was Ciaran Clark that headed home the opener unopposed midway through the first half, and they were looking the goods for all three points until Ben Arfa’s pearler got Newcastle out of a rut.

Newcastle started the game on the attack with a Fabricio Coloccini header being struck wide, following Yohan Cabaye’s delivery from a free kick.

Ten minutes into the game, Villa started to attack more with Weimann passing the ball to Darren Bent as he waited in the penalty box, before Tim Krul saved the home side, forcing the ball off for a corner after hitting the captain Coloccini in the rebound.

Lambert’s side then continued to press with Bent forcing another save from Krul, resulting in another corner for Aston Villa. Although the ball was headed clear by Newcastle’s defence, Barry Bannan was waiting at the edge of the box where he crossed in the ball for the waiting Clark, who finished off in style on 22 minutes.

After Karim El Ahmadi was booked for a challenge on Danny Simpson, Newcastle started to test Brad Guzan in Villa’s goal when Papiss Cisse’s shot resulted in the ball bouncing back to Vurnon Anita, before the new signing hit the ball wide of the target.

With 10 minutes until the interval, Simpson was forced off the pitch with a hamstring injury, which resulted in Anita dropping into defence. Gael Bigirimana was then brought onto the pitch as Pardew’s first substitute, to fill Anita’s role.

Newcastle finished the first half the stronger side after Cisse missed a golden opportunity to put his side level. The ball came to his feet in the six-yard box before Guzan made an impressive save to stop the striker netting his first goal of the season.

The second half began with Villa continuing their form, forcing Newcastle into giving away two corners within the first three minutes of the second half but without causing any pressure for Krul.

Newcastle slowly came into the second half but rapidly picked up the pace around the hour mark, where the ball fell to Ben Arfa and after dribbling past Holman, the Frenchman launched the ball into the top right corner of Guzan’s net leaving the keeper without a chance.

Aston Villa tried to respond immediately with Weimann hitting the ball wide from close range, followed by the Austrian being taken off the field to make way for Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Both teams continued to press with 20 minutes to go with Newcastle working deep into Aston Villa’s half, resulting in the visitors conceding numerous corners, but without any trouble for Guzan.

Villa continued to play attacking football but Pardew’s men did not allow any real chances for the away side, aside from a mis-directed volley from Stephen Ireland just outside the Newcastle penalty box, after substitute Agbonlahor laid the ball off for him.

Bigirimana made a heroic tackle on Darren Bent to prevent the Englishman from potentially scoring the winner, after another great ball by Agbonlahor after the striker raced past Coloccini.

With almost the no time to spare, Cabaye missed the opportunity to put his side in front and secure them the win after his free kick was saved by another brilliant stop from Guzan, who looks set to challenge Shay Given for the starting position.