Unai Emery praised Johan Manzambi after his goal helped Aston Villa claim a 1-0 win over Newcastle at St. James' Park.
The Switzerland midfielder had looked set to join the Magpies over the summer before eventually signing for Villa and his goal was the difference on Tyneside.
João Gomes edged towards the box to curl a cross in for Manzambi, who easily nodded past Lukáš Horníček in the 36th minute.
It takes his tally to two Premier League goals this season and comes only three days after scoring in Villa's 6-0 win over Fenerbahçe in the Champions League.
Johan Manzambi's first-half header made the difference for Aston Villa against Newcastle on Saturday. Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images Speaking about Manzambi, Emery said: "He's a good guy, he's very professional, he loves, with passion football. He wants to play in the way we are and the demand we have.
"He decided to join us in summer because he understood here he can progress, he can as well have his own challenges and quality challenges to improving in his career as a player."
Emery was also pleased with his side's display to secure three points at St. James' Park, which he described as a "difficult scenario" to play in.
Victory lifts Villa into 12th in the table and extends their unbeaten run in all competitions to five games.
"A tough match, to play Newcastle in their stadium is a very difficult scenario to achieve points," Emery added.
"We prepared the game, we planned a very important three points to play, focus in everything we needed. Tactically, offensively very good. Set-pieces, defensively very good. In transition we had very good chances to score and we scored.
"Very good how we have extended after our win at Tottenham the same mentality away."
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The three points on Tyneside also marked Emery's 100th win in the Premier League from his time in charge of both Arsenal and Villa.
Speaking about his milestone moment, Emery said: "Hopefully I can play another 100 and win! But in football you are winning or you aren't."
Newcastle boss Matthias Jaissle expressed his frustrations as they slipped to back-to-back Premier League defeats.