Jordan Ayew’s piledriver denied Newcastle a third successive Barclays Premier League victory and handed relegation-haunted Aston Villa a glimmer of hope.

Aston Villa 0 Arsenal 2: Arsene Wenger has hailed a “great week”, after Olivier Giroud scored again and Arsenal followed up Champions League qualification with a climb to the top of the Barclays Premier League by comfortably beating rock-bottom Aston Villa.

Good evening. Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

The new Rose of Tralee undoubtedly had the time of her life last night but there’s plenty more in store for the lovely lady this morning as her year in the spotlight truly begins to unfurl before her.

Substitute Fernandinho struck a late winner as Manchester City killed off an Aston Villa comeback to claim a frantic 3-2 victory at the Etihad Stadium.

Premier League

Aston Villa 2 West Brom 0

Fabian Delph’s first goal in a year helped fire Aston Villa to Wembley as they beat West Brom 2-0 to reach the FA Cup semi-finals.

Christian Benteke is missing with a hip injury for Aston Villa’s FA Cup quarter-final meeting with West Brom.

Scott Sinclair believes Aston Villa have already been lifted by Tim Sherwood’s arrival after the manager watched his new side move closer to Wembley.

FA Cup Fifth Round: Aston Villa 2 Leicester City 1: Scott Marshall revealed Tim Sherwood’s half-time pep talk inspired Aston Villa to the FA Cup quarter finals.

Aston Villa goalkeeper Shay Given is hopeful his man-of-the-match performance in their 2-1 FA Cup fifth round win over Leicester has proved to new manager Tim Sherwood that he still has plenty to offer.

Aston Villa 2 Bourmemouth 1: FA Cup Fourth Round: Villa Park had been tipped as a likely scene of a surprise yesterday and it did not disappoint. Just not in the way anyone anticipated.

Carles Gil helped fire Aston Villa into the FA Cup fifth round as they avoided an upset to beat Bournemouth 2-1.

Aston Villa 0 Crystal Palace 0

Andreas Weimann’s second-half strike proved the difference as Aston Villa won 1-0 at Stoke on the opening day of the Barclays Premier League season.

Hugo Rodallega gave Fulham a lifeline in their fight against relegation from the Premier League with a late winner against Aston Villa this afternoon.

Aston Villa 1 Stoke 4

Aston Villa 4 Norwich 1

Newcastle 1 Aston Villa 0

Everton 2 Aston Villa 1

Charlie Adam scored either side of half-time as Stoke claimed their first ever Barclays Premier League win over Manchester United.

Aston Villa 4 West Brom 3

Manchester City replaced Arsenal at the top of the Barclays Premier League table after emphatically ending Tottenham’s unbeaten league run under Tim Sherwood with a 5-1 win at White Hart Lane.

Liverpool 2 Aston Villa 2

Aston Villa 1 Arsenal 2

Aston Villa 1 Arsenal 2

Sunderland 0 Aston Villa 1

Manchester United took on Norwich at Carrow Road without England forward Wayne Rooney, who did not travel to Norfolk.

Fulham 2 Aston Villa 0

Dimitar Berbatov brushed off talk of a January exit to end Fulham's six-game Premier League losing streak as the Cottagers saw off Aston Villa 2-0 today.

West Brom striker Shane Long has stressed the need for Albion to learn from their mistakes after they let a two-goal lead slip in Monday's 2-2 draw with midlands rivals Aston Villa.

West Brom 2 Aston Villa 2

Aston Villa battled back from two goals down to snatch a 2-2 draw in their derby clash with midlands rivals West Brom at The Hawthorns.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho remains unbeaten in the Barclays Premier League at Stamford Bridge after a controversial late penalty allowed the home side to snatch a 2-2 draw against West Brom.

Aston Villa 0 Everton 2

Aston Villa 0 Tottenham 2

Aston Villa 0 Spurs 2

PREMIER LEAGUE:

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini was baffled by his team’s shock 3-2 defeat at Aston Villa.

Aston Villa 3 Man City 2

Norwich 0 Aston Villa 1

Villa boss Paul Lambert recalled Ciaran Clark in to the centre of his defence for his return to Carrow Road.

The summary of this summer's transfers after deadline day, club-by-club.