Danny Ings scored a superb acrobatic volley on his Aston Villa home debut as they recorded a deserved victory over Newcastle to bounce back from their opening-day defeat at Watford.
In the only moment of genuine quality in a scrappy first half, Ings sent an unstoppable bicycle kick into the corner of Freddie Woodman's net after connecting perfectly with Tyrone Mings' flick-on.
Villa made the brighter start to the second half and doubled their lead through Anwar El Ghazi's penalty, awarded by referee David Coote after being instructed by VAR to go to his pitchside monitor to review a Jamaal Lascelles handball from Mings' header.
Coote awarded Newcastle a penalty of their own following Emi Martinez's late challenge on Callum Wilson, but VAR ruled that the 29-year-old striker had strayed offside in the build-up and the decision was overturned.
Wilson had missed a glorious opportunity to put the visitors ahead after just five minutes, curling wide as Villa's players appealed for a foul by the 29-year-old on Mings.
The defeat was Newcastle's 13th in the league in 2021 - only Southampton and Burnley have lost more among current top-flight teams.
Afterwards, Villa boss Dean Smith says: "Certainly am (happy) in front of our own fans who have waited a long time to get back. An OK performance but a result is what we needed.
"We had to deal with balls in behind with their pace but a great finish from Danny Ings and a set-piece routine we worked on in pre-season. That is what we brought Ings in for. Anwar El Ghazi is a very good penalty taker.
"You just have to manage the times, we have got used to enough stoppages with short pre-seasons but we have to get on with it and manager it the best we can.
"Hopefully the better performances will come but it was important to get off the mark today."