LONDON, Aug 27: Aston Villa maintained their unbeaten start to the season on Sunday with a 2-0 win over Newcastle United who had their expensive new signing Obafemi Martins carried off on a stretcher on his debut.

Martins, who joined Newcastle from Inter Milan on Thursday in a 15-million euro ($19 million) deal as a replacement for Alan Shearer who has retired, was injured landing awkwardly after jumping for a header in the 60th minute.

Roeder had already made all three substitutions by the time Martins was injured and were forced to play for the last 30 minutes with 10 men.

Villa, who climbed to second in the table behind Manchester United, went ahead in the third minute when Luke Moore scored with a low, 18-metre right-footed shot, and doubled their lead in the 38th when Juan Pablo Angel scored from close range after good work by Gabriel Agbonlahor.

While it was a good day for Villa, playing in front of new majority shareholder, American billionaire Randy Lerner, it was bad for Newcastle who will wait anxiously to see how serious the 21-year-old Nigerian striker's injury turns out to be.

Results:

Played on Sunday:

Aston Villa 2 Newcastle United 0

Blackburn Rovers 0 Chelsea 2

Played on Saturday:

Charlton Athletic 2 Bolton Wanderers 0

Fulham 1 Sheffield United 0

Liverpool 2 West Ham United 1

Manchester City 1 Arsenal 0

Tottenham Hotspur 0 Everton 2

Watford 1 Manchester United 2

Wigan Athletic 1 Reading 0
—Reuters