With respect to the Foxes and Tractor Boys, Newcastle's victories over them ahead of this game had raised hopes rather than expectations that Eddie Howe's side would make it nine points from nine.

Boxing Day disasters culminating in 2023's Gallowgate pantomime with Chris Wood as Principal Boy had prepared us for further Magpie misfortune, but from the time that the Nike Flight Hi-Vis match ball met Anthony Gordon's right boot in front of the Gallowgate End, a happy ending looked likely.

Pointless in their last four away games, Aston Villa were without a clean sheet in ten Premier League road trips and that became 11 after just 80 seconds; Gordon taking Joelinton's passing and cutting infield before delivering a superlative and unstoppable strike. 

Joelinton had returned to the starting line-up in place of Joe Willock; the other change from the side 4-0 winners at Ipswich on Saturday seeing Kieran Trippier replace illness victim Tino Livramento.

United's early pressure was relentless but Villa went closest to the next goal of the game when a Lucas Digne free-kick was well saved by Martin Dubravka - the home custodian having little else to do from that point en route to his third successive Premier League clean sheet. 

The critical incident that tipped the game in favour of United came just after the half hour, when Villa's Jhon Duran was beaten to the ball by Fabian Schar, but left his studs in the defender's back on a deliberate follow-through. 

That was rewarded with a red carded from referee Anthony Taylor after a moment of deliberation; the reaction of home fans to what looked like a deliberate act possibly influential but the actions of the respective sides perhaps more telling: Dubravka the first to confront the miscreant and the intimidating figure of Joelinton inevitably barging his way through in support, but a singular lack of action from the other Villa players.

Amid great hilarity, Duran kicked over a water bottle at pitchside as he departed, on about the same spot that Stoke City boss Mark Hughes threw his coat to the floor on Boxing Day 2013 following his own mirthsome dismissal. 

A mass confrontation in the tunnel at half time between the two benches then saw a further two red cards issued, Jason Tindall and Villa analyst Victor Manas the recipients. Tindall initially relocated himself to the press box but was then escorted to a seat in the Directors Box.

The visiting manager and many of his supporters sought to portray the Duran dismissal as pivotal to the outcome of the game, but that's a slightly disingenuous reading in our eyes; Villa having settled after going behind but not to the extent that they looked like providing any significant threat. It's also worth noting that top scorer Alexander Isak had barely featured in the opening half hour.
 
Eleven against ten became a blatantly one-sided contest that could and should have seen United emulate last season's five goal spree against this lot, Villa repeatedly tied in knots by a press that bordered on the vicious at times. 

Again though, the failure to register another goal raised those old familiar feelings of discomfort, not helped when Martinez acrobatically denied Tonali before half time. 

The crucial second did arrive in the 59th minute when Bruno and Murphy combined for Isak to tap in from close range. Isak was then denied an almost instant second after finishing when he was beyond Martinez before Jacob Murphy rattled the bar as a black and white tide enveloped the Villans. 

Bruno had one chalked off for handball late on, the ball going in via his elbow when blasted against him from close range by Ezri Konsa. Joelinton then claimed the third in added time after another defensive blunder gifted him the ball and he finished stylishly inside the box with a curling finish.

By then the industrious Trippier had departed to rich applause, forgotten man Matt Targett introduced for his first competitive appearance in 13 months.

Victory propelled Newcastle into fifth place with 29 points from 18 games - six points and two places behind their tally in a 2022/23 campaign that ended in Champions League qualification. For context, the Magpies had the same number of points from 18 games last season, but sat in seventh.

"It's happened again..." sang the Gallowgate crowd, as the vanquished Villans descended from their lofty L7 perch - having seen their side extend their winless run here to 17 games in all competitions.

This is a particularly potty Premier League season and we're now thankfully participating in it after a stuttering few months that rightly raised questions about our direction and ambition, including sullen comments from ourselves about the players doing their best to weaken the case for a bigger SJP...

The big figures who were collectively out of form have clicked; the games when our most effective tactic was super sub Harvey Barnes now forgotten. Statistics that once suggested a winning formula included Sean Longstaff now point at Jacob Murphy being the missing link, but the collective effort that has rehabilitated Martin Dubravka as a Premier League goalkeeper cannot be quantified. 

The goals though make the real difference; the confidence to shoot underscored by better deliveries, more fluid movements and a bloke leading the line who is coveted across the planet. This was a real world version of the Entertainers; one where the full backs didn't routinely lack any support. 

Notwithstanding the antics of "mad dog", a different type of Howe-inspired shithousery is evident rather than the "see it out" tactics that produced goalkeepers developing mysterious ailments, multiple balls appearing on the field and unused substitutes interfering with throw-ins. We are uncomfortable to play against once again, uncompromising but also ruthless. Bottle it. 

The satisfaction of a job well done was manifest on and off the field at full time: the closing of another day to savour in a December that has been magic again so far. 

Victories like this are payback for those ludicrously early starts and late finishes; the disconsolate drives back across the M62 that are as much a part of our Boxing Days as leftovers and sales. 

There's still one more though trip before the calendar changes: Newcastle rounding off 2024 by visiting a Manchester United side resolutely in the doldrums and seemingly susceptible to the sort of pressure that has brought Eddie Howe's side 15 goals in four games.

Needless to say, the Geordie Nation would "just love it" were our current winning run to be extended at Old Trafford on Monday......

Biffa