Nicolas Jackson has scored five times for Aston Villa since his move from Chelsea and said he was lucky to avoid a serious injury when he was caught in the first half by Newcastle's Sven Botman, who was only shown a yellow card despite an over-the-ball challenge.

"I know the referee said yellow card but it was so high and hopefully maybe next time a red card, but it was a yellow," said striker Jackson. "I nearly broke my leg, but anyway, it's part of football. The most important thing is we win and we won, so I'm OK."

Villa entertain Norwegian side Viking in their third Champions League match of the season on Wednesday before hosting a Manchester City side that have won all seven of their Premier League matches this season.

"It was very important after our poor start [to the season] that we needed to try to come back feeling confident, feeling comfortable in how we are building our structure," added head coach Unai Emery.

"The players themselves tried to be demanding to change the situation where we are.

"Through the league we are going to achieve our priority this year, so the league is the competition where we must try to be very consistent."

With seven points from their past three Premier League matches, Villa are a side on the rise again.