Aston Villa vs Newcastle: Anthony Elanga vows there is ‘more to come’

It has clearly been a period of great change for Elanga on and off the field.

As well as joining a new club, the 23-year-old recently became a father for the first time.

It was the proudest moment of his life.

“Bringing Blair into this world and raising her here is probably the best feeling ever,” he said.

“She’s a little Geordie who will be growing up in Newcastle. She’ll have an accent too, which is nice.”

“I can’t wait for her to walk around and touch the football, hear her talk, and have her integrate with the other kids here at Newcastle. It’s hard to describe. I wouldn’t change that feeling for the world.”

Clearly, Blair’s arrival gave Ilanga an additional perspective.

It took the Swede – like many before him – some time to adjust to the density, structure and detail of life under Eddie Howe.

At least during the relentless fixture schedule, where there has been little time for physical training in recent months.

After a groan or two from the stands, it got to the point last month where Howe said last month that Elanga needed to feel “safe” at St James’ Park and “free to express himself”.

Fans responded by singing Elanga’s name and cheering him on during a short match against PSV Eindhoven a few days later.

They did so again after he scored his first goal for the club against Manchester City earlier this month, and after he was substituted during the win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday night.

No wonder Elanga took his time to walk off the field after seeing his number go up.

“I made sure to walk slower,” he smiled. “If I could have stayed there, I would have.”

It was a night when Howe received the biggest applause ever from the away end.

The Newcastle boss previously admitted he was not doing his job “well enough” following the brutal 3-2 defeat to Brentford last week.

It led to a lot of soul-searching behind the scenes, and the players realized they had to step up.

“We always want to fight for the coach because we know what he did for each of us as players,” Elanga said. “I’ve only been here for seven months, but I feel like he’s improved me a lot.

“There are things people don’t see on the training pitch, but he helped me a lot and that’s unbelievable. He was one of the reasons I came here because I knew he would improve me as a player.”

“When we get on the pitch, we always want to fight for it, especially that game against Tottenham. Yes, we did that but can we do it again and again?”