Newcastle United kickstarted their pre-season tournament in the US with an exhilarating comeback draw against Aston Villa on Monday. 

Eddie Howe's side came from 2-0 and 3-2 down to draw 3-3 in Philadelphia, in what was their first outing of the Premier League summer series, with games against Chelsea and Brighton to come this week. 

New signings Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes both featured in front of a 40,000 crowd at the Lincoln Financial Field, with Howe testing out a new three-at-the-back formation ahead of the season kicking off next month. 

The Toon, who boasted one of the best defensive records in the division last season as they finished fourth in the top flight, quickly saw their new defensive shape undone by Unai Emery's side. 

Emiliano Buendia made great strides through the middle of the pitch before finding the dangerous Ollie Watkins completely unmarked in the box, and the England striker provided a simple finish to make it 1-0 on seven minutes. 

Villa's Argentine maestro was a constant thorn in Newcastle's side and he made it 2-0 four minutes later after leaving Kieran Trippier flat-footed and firing in at Martin Dubravka's near post. 

However, one thing that is guaranteed with this Newcastle side is a never-say-die attitude and the impressive Elliot Anderson emphasised that when he raced onto Jacob Murphy's through ball to make it 2-1 on 28 minutes. 

The former Bristol Rovers loanee was instrumental in the equalising goal just before half-time, as he robbed Boubacar Kamara of possession and surged into the area to shoot, with Alexander Isak on hand to smash home the rebound for 2-2. 

Frustratingly for Howe, his side found themselves behind just three minutes into the second half, as man-of-the-match Buendia tapped in after Kamara's effort came back off the post. 

But just seven minutes later and the scores were level again, as Callum Wilson benefitted from yet another rebound after Anthony Gordon's shot was parried. 

There were plenty of positives and negatives for Newcastle to take from the performance, but they would have to settle for a point in their summer series opener.