Why can’t Newcastle win without Guimaraes?

This was a very different matchday experience for Bruno Guimaraes.

Instead of being involved in the thick of it on the field, the injured Newcastle United captain could only watch on helplessly from the stands alongside his family at St James’ Park on Sunday.

It’s not something he will necessarily want to relive anytime soon after his side fell to a 2-0 defeat against Aston Villa.

“Tough not being on the pitch with my team-mates,” he wrote on Instagram afterwards.

There was a reason the coaching staff were prepared to give the Brazilian every chance to prove his fitness after he hobbled off with an ankle injury in the win against PSV Eindhoven in midweek.

Remarkably, since his Premier League debut nearly four years ago, Newcastle have not won any of the nine league games Guimaraes has missed.

From the 27 points on offer, Newcastle have claimed just five without their talisman.

“You lose a lot when a player like that isn’t available,” head coach Eddie Howe said after the game.

“But we can’t rely on one player. We do have to find a way of winning without him.”

That wait goes on, but a defeat should not exactly have been a foregone conclusion – even if Aston Villa are flying in third place.

Newcastle were fresh from defeating PSV Eindhoven 3-0 in the Champions League in midweek.

They had not been beaten at home in the Premier League since the end of September, scoring at least two goals in each of their previous eight top-flight games at St James’.

The hosts were facing an Aston Villa side who had only touched down from Istanbul in the early hours of Friday morning following their Europa League tie against Fenerbahce.

And Howe’s men certainly had their chances to strike.

The game had not long kicked off when Sandro Tonali weaved past three Aston Villa players only to be denied by the foot of goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, while fellow midfielder Lewis Miley saw a header clawed away as his side pushed for an equaliser.

Howe paid tribute to the pair for having “good games”, on an afternoon he also lost another Brazilian, Joelinton, to a groin injury.

But the Newcastle head coach tellingly rued the absence of another midfielder post-match.

“It’s not necessarily a slight on them,” he said. “I just thought we missed Bruno’s forward thinking.

“He always wants to pass forward and is always looking for a creative pass. You could see we missed that today.

“He always wants the ball and he’s always demanding the ball from his team-mates. They’re massive qualities, and then there’s his never-say-die spirit and attitude, too.”

There have been countless examples.

When Newcastle were 3-2 down against Leeds United in the 90th minute earlier this month, Guimaraes scored a late penalty to draw his side level before they went on to, somehow, win the game.

When it was goalless in matches versus Crystal Palace, Burnley, Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest, the 28-year-old opened the scoring.

Guimaraes even popped up with a late winner against Fulham back in October.

Yet Newcastle never looked like producing a similar moment as Sunday’s game went on, and forwards Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade mustered just a measly shot between them.

The hosts lacked the guile to unlock a stubborn defence once again in the second half – just a week after failing to find the back of the net against bottom of the table Wolves.

It is worth noting Guimaraes was in the side that afternoon.

“There’s no point me thinking we need another type of player at this moment because it’s not going to happen,” Howe said.

“The next chance we will really have to change the squad will be in the summer. It’s about getting the best out of the players we have.”

Aston Villa know all about that challenge.

These are very different players, of course, but the visitors were unable to call upon their captain and standard bearer John McGinn in the middle of the park while the influential Boubacar Kamara was also sidelined.

Such is his importance, when it comes to winning duels, making interceptions and chasing down opposition midfielders, Villa have only lost two league games in which Kamara has started this season.

But Unai Emery’s side found a way to win the midfield battle and keep a clean sheet without the Frenchman at a ground they had not won at for more than two decades.

“We are trying to build our structure – individually, collectively and mentally,” the Aston Villa manager said after the game.

“When someone is not available, we must then feel comfortable and confident with the players that we have.”

But it is not an exaggeration to say Newcastle have simply not been used to life without Guimaraes.

Such has been Guimaraes’s durability, the Brazilian did not miss a single league game last season, and he only sat out two top-flight fixtures in the campaign before that.

No wonder, then, the midfielder has vowed to do all he can to be fit for Newcastle‘s huge Champions League game against Paris St-Germain on Wednesday night.

“Not the result we wanted, but we keep moving forward,” Guimaraes wrote. “Hopefully I’ll be back doing what I love very soon.”