Personally I don't think Aston Villa deserve to finish in the top four of the points table. It is true that this team has performed very well since the beginning of the season. But at the moment the performance of the team is very poor. And we haven't seen better performances from Aston Villa in recent matches either. They can't play well even against relatively weaker teams.
I expected a better performance from Villa against Newcastle. But Aston Villa conceded two goals in the first half. And in the second half they could not make a comeback. Eddie Howe is an experienced coach. In the second half he changed his game strategy and tightened Newcastle's defence. Aston Villa will need to be more tactical if they want to stay in the top four of the table. I didn't like Aston Villa's match strategy in today's match.
The main pride Aston Villa has been their unbeaten run while playing at Villa Park which was broken by Newcastle United that are not in good form this season. This clearly show that they are not ready to even make top four because if they continue like is, I doubt if they will be able to make it to the Champions League.