Newcastle boss Eddie Howe is hoping Kieran Trippier's injury isn't serious.

The £12million January signing scored the decisive goal in a 1-0 victory against Aston Villa at St James' Park 10 minutes before half-time, but left the pitch in some discomfort within three minutes of the restart.

Head coach Howe said: "Trippier got stamped on and he couldn't continue with a problem on the top of his foot, so he's gone for an X-ray at the hospital.

"We're keeping everything crossed hoping that there's no broken bone."

Trippier's strike handed the Magpies - who saw £13million man Dan Burn make an impressive debut - a third successive league win for the first time since November 2018 and took their points tally from their last five outings to 11, one more than they managed from their first 18 matches of the campaign.

Howe, whose side are now four points clear of the the relegation zone, said: "It shows we're in a good place at the moment.

"We've worked incredibly hard. In the last three games, I don't think there's been any secret to how we've won the games.

"I don't think they've been fluent footballing performances where we've played from back to front and all the things that we potentially want to do in the future but it's been very disciplined, hard-working, a lot of energy, a lot of team-work, team spirit, togetherness that have made the difference for us.

"So big compliments for everyone for that because that's sometimes the hardest thing to deliver consistently.

"For the last three games, we've certainly had that."