Newcastle and Aston Villa play to 3-3 draw in goal-fest as Harvey Barnes makes his debut, Emi Buendia records a brace, and Sandro Tonali continues adjusting to his new surroundings

Newcastle and Aston Villa played to an exciting 3-3 friendly draw in Philadelphia as part of the Premier League Summer Series. 

Ollie Watkins kicked off the goal-fest a when he scored the game’s first goal after just over five minutes had passed, to be followed up quickly by Emi Buendia who finished the game with not one but two goals to his name.

Newcastle were able to fight back despite being frustrated early by Villa’s compact defending and scored two goals of their own to tie the game in the first half thanks to goals from Anderson and Alexander Isak.

Shortly after halftime after the teams took the field for the second half Buendia found himself in front of an open net as a bouncing ball fell to him in the box, to be followed up around 10 minutes later by game-tying goal from Callum Wilson.

Star summer signing Sandro Tonali had a very quiet game as he seemingly is still adjusting to his new surroundings at Newcastle, while new signing Harvey Barnes made his debut with around 20 minutes remaining in the game.

Ollie Watkins opened up the scoring in the contest with a goal after just over than five minutes

Newcastle new signing Harvey Barnes made his debut with 20 minutes remaining in the game

Barnes was able to make a small impact in his debut after recording a shot on goal despite being a member of the squad for less than 48 hours.

Following the official announcement of his transfer Barnes had told Newcastle’s website: ‘I’m delighted. It’s an amazing club and for me it’s a massive opportunity to come and be involved in a successful team that’s doing exciting things, so I’m absolutely buzzing to be here.’

‘I think it’s an attacker’s dream to come into a team like this; it’s high paced, it’s physically demanding, but you can see the rewards of that with the chances and the goals scored, so I think I’ll certainty suit the style.’  

Aston Villa also had some of their new signings take the field as both Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans made appearances from the bench during the second half.

Following the game Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery would also state that he hopes new signing Moussa Diaby would be able to take part in the team’s next contest.

Newcastle’s Eddie Howe also earned some extra attention when he choose not to go into the locker room during halftime and instead remained on the field conversing with players as they prepared to sub in for the second half.