Aston Villa 1-1 Newcastle United

Aaron Tshibola's header was his first goal for Villa since joining the club from Reading in the summer

Aaron Tshibola headed a late equaliser as Aston Villa fought back to draw with Newcastle in a meeting of two of last season's Premier League sides.

Newcastle dominated the first half and led when Tommy Elphick turned DeAndre Yedlin's cross into his own net.

Dwight Gayle and Mo Diame both missed chances to double Newcastle's lead.

Mile Jedinak had a header ruled out for offside and Jordan Ayew hit the post for Villa, before substitute Tshibola met Ayew's corner at the far post.

• Saturday's EFL action as it happened

Villa had already lost nine points from winning positions this season, more than any other team in the Championship, after conceding a host of late goals.

But it was Newcastle who were left feeling deflated after not taking a series of chances to put the game out of the hosts' reach.

Villa, who left out Jack Grealish while an internal investigation continues into the midfielder's part in an all-night party at a Birmingham hotel, were second best for long spells and trailed when Elphick sliced into his own goal.

The Villa captain then lost possession to put Gayle clean through but the striker saw his shot saved by keeper Pierluigi Gollini, before Diame sliced wide from six yards after the break.

Villa improved in the closing stages and were denied an equaliser by a correct offside flag when Jedinak headed in Ayew's free-kick, before the Ghanaian forward curled a brilliant shot against the post.

But Tshibola's first goal for the club rescued a point as Villa drew for the sixth time in nine league games this season.

Aston Villa manager Roberto di Matteo:

"Against (Nottingham) Forest we turned the game around but unfortunately we conceded an equaliser.

"Today we got it back and pushed on to find the second. There's certainly a degree of belief that we're still in the game and can win.

"Our challenge is to turn the draws into wins because we have drawn too many games and that's what the table reflects."

Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez:

"We were so dominant in the first half we could've finished the game and now we're talking about another thing.

"That's football, you have to take your chances and we didn't do it.

"We made some mistakes defending in the second half and we have to give credit to them but, for me, the positives were the first half and the negatives were the mistakes in the second half and that we allowed them to stay in the game."