Newcastle United have taken a huge step towards rescuing their somewhat faltering season after beating Aston Villa in the FA Cup.
The 2025/26 season has been a strange one so far for The Magpies. A perfect storm of a volatile pre-season, questionable signings, and poor on-field displays has combined to make this Newcastle’s most frustrating season so far under the stewardship of Eddie Howe.
After an inauspicious start to the season, with former hero Alexander Isak ultimately succeeding in forcing a move to Liverpool on the final day of the summer transfer window, Newcastle picked up just one win from their opening five Premier League games.
Stop-start season
The Magpies have produced solid European performances against the likes of PSV, Athletic Bilbao, and Benfica, but their domestic form could be described as stop-start at best, with disastrous displays against Sunderland and West Ham, and thrilling victories against the likes of Fulham, Everton and Leeds proving to be little more than false dawns.
There was a sense that last Tuesday’s win away at Tottenham Hotspur might be another short-lived high, with a trip to Villa Park to face Aston Villa in the FA Cup 4th round just a few days later.
Even the most ardent of Newcastle fans must have felt there was little hope of leaving Birmingham with a place in the last 16 of football’s oldest competition, with the game coming a mere three weeks after Villa comfortably beat Newcastle in the Premier League at St. James’ Park.
Tammy Abraham’s opening goal for The Villains, an effort that was clearly offside, was the first of a slew of outrageously bad decisions from the match officials in the absence of VAR, but more importantly, it meant Newcastle went a goal behind, bad news for a club that has only won twice all season across all competitions from losing positions.
Fortunately for the Magpies, Villa goalkeeper Marco Bizot’s ill-timed lunge at Jacob Murphy earned him a straight red card just before half-time, and they were able to capitalise against the ten men in the second half, with two goals from Sandro Tonali and one from Nick Woltemade sending Newcastle through to the fifth round.
Prioritising the FA Cup?
Following the Newcastle players’ public showing of support for manager Eddie Howe after the win away to Tottenham, and after beating Aston Villa, could the FA Cup save Newcastle’s rudderless season and bring back a clear focus to St James’ Park?
The Magpies defence of the Carabao Cup ended away to Manchester City last month, and with hopes of a top-four finish in the league looking increasingly unlikely, it seems that the success of Newcastle’s season could come down to how far they go in the FA Cup.
It is worth pointing out that Newcastle are still very much in the Champions League, too, with a two-leg tie against Qarabag FK on the horizon. A win in the tie against the Azerbaijani side would see Newcastle into the uncharted territory of the last 16 of Europe’s premier competition for the first time in their history.
There are some heavy hitters left in the FA Cup, with the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all making it through to the next round, but Eddie Howe has honed in on cup competitions before, and it’s a testament to the job that he has done at the club that it no longer feels like a foregone conclusion being drawn against one of the ‘big boys’.
Howe has guided the club to the Carabao Cup final twice in the last three years, beating all of the so-called ‘big 6’ in the competition, with victories against Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, and, of course, Liverpool at Wembley.
With questions surrounding a Premier League season plagued with inconsistencies, could the FA Cup be the answer that Eddie Howe is looking for?
