Aston Villa maintained their unbeaten start to the season on Sunday with a 2-0 win over Newcastle United who had their expensive new signing Obafemi Martins carried off on a stretcher on his debut.
Martins, who joined Newcastle from Inter Milan on Thursday in a 15-million euro ($19 million) deal as a replacement for Alan Shearer who has retired, was injured landing awkwardly after jumping for a header in the 60th minute. Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder told Sky Sports after the game that Martins had appeared to have suffered "a very bad dead leg", adding that he was optimistic he would be fit for Newcastle's next league match, after the international break, against Fulham on September 9.
Roeder had already made all three substitutions by the time Martins was injured and were forced to play for the last 30 minutes with 10 men.
Villa, who climbed to second in the table behind Manchester United, went ahead in the third minute when Luke Moore scored with a low, 18-metre right-footed shot, and doubled their lead in the 38th when Juan Pablo Angel scored from close range after good work by Gabriel Agbonlahor.