Emi Buendia's sweet strike set Aston Villa on their way to a hard-fought 2-0 Premier League win at Newcastle as they maintained their pursuit of the top two.

The Argentina international's sumptuous finish and Ollie Watkins' late header secured victory at St James' Park -- a first on Tyneside since 2005 -- which owed much to two fine first-half saves by Emi Martinez from Sandro Tonali and Lewis Miley as Eddie Howe's men came up short.

Villa were good value for the points on an afternoon when they were slick going forward and dogged in defence, but the Magpies were guilty of failing to make the most of the possession they had, particularly after the break.

The absence of skipper Bruno Guimarães through injury left Howe's side needing to break new ground -- they had won none of the eight league games they had played without the Brazilian since his arrival in January 2022 -- although Villa too were missing key men, in particular Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn.

Newcastle would have been ahead inside the first minute had the returning Martinez not managed to block Tonali's shot with a leg after the Italy international had collected Joelinton's pass and carved his way into the penalty area, although Nick Pope was called upon to keep out Buendia's fifth-minute strike after Tonali had been caught in possession.

With Sven Botman trailing Morgan Rogers and Joelinton leaving his mark on Youri Tielemans, the hosts were enjoying the better of it, but it took a fine 12th-minute save from Pope to deny Watkins after Jadon Sancho had played the striker in behind Malick Thiaw.

Buendia, Rogers and Watkins were starting to cause problems for the hosts, and they forced their way in front with 19 minutes gone when Buendia was allowed time and space to line up a shot from 20 yards and drilled a dipping effort across and beyond Pope.

The visitors were dominating as Rogers and Watkins repeatedly stretched the Magpies' defence in an increasingly fractious contest in which referee Jarred Gillett played a central role.

Newcastle responded with Miley, Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes beginning to make an impact, and Martinez had to pull off a fine one-handed save to repel Miley's looping 43rd-minute header from a Gordon cross.

Barnes saw a shot blocked after he and Yoane Wissa had staged a pacy break within seconds of the restart, although Howe's plans were disrupted within minutes when he had to replace the injured Joelinton with former Villa midfielder Jacob Ramsey.

The former Leicester wide-man saw a second attempt deflected just off target and Gordon was unable to convert Barnes' far-post cross at full-stretch after Miley had played him in with the home side making a big push.

Pope had to save from Rogers after Botman had inexplicably flicked the ball into his path under pressure from Watkins and with the Magpies blowing themselves out, they cemented the win two minutes from time when, after Pope had clawed away his piledriver, Watkins headed home a second from Matty Cash's cross when the hosts failed to deal with the resulting corner.