THE circumstances could scarcely have been more different, but there was an air of déjà vu at Villa Park yesterday.

Twenty-three months earlier, a Newcastle United side needing just a point to stay the Premier League left the West Midlands ground with a 1-0 defeat and barely a whimper.

Nearly two years on, Aston Villa were the under-performing side looking over their shoulders but, with the Magpies every bit as limp and listless, the scoreline was identical.

Newcastle were without key elements of their spine, Shola Ameobi joining Leon Best on the injured list in the build-up, Kevin Nolan and Cheik Tioté suspended and Fabricio Coloccini pushed forward to compensate.

However, after being spooked into thrashing Wolverhampton Wanderers the previous week, the six survivors of that fateful day hardly looked in the mood to bury any ghosts.

The game was played in Cup final weather, and there was even a Goodyear blimp flying overhead pre-match, but there was little resting on the match for Newcastle.

They started like a team not properly switched on, Steven Taylor’s back-header going for a corner rather than picking out Steve Harper.

When Joey Barton played a good ball over the top in the fifth minute, Peter Løvenkrands’ cross picked out James Collins.

The Magpies appeared to have identified Villa’s right as their best line of attack, and when José Enrique put a cross over which evaded Løvenkrands, the lunging Barton headed wide.

Handed a rare start by virtue of Ameobi’s swollen knee, Nile Ranger wasted a good opportunity after 19 minutes.