NEWCASTLE, England – Aston Villa manager Unai Emery was disappointed with his team’s 5-1 defeat away to Newcastle United, but the loss of crucial defender Tyrone Mings to a first-half injury was even worse.
Mings went down following a seemingly innocuous tussle with Newcastle attacker Alexander Isak, and after a lengthy stoppage for treatment, he was taken off the pitch on a stretcher in the 31st minute and transferred to a nearby 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.
