Magpies pair sent off for fighting
 |  Dyer assured manager Souness that he did not strike a blow |
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LONDON, England -- Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer were sent off for fighting each other as Newcastle crashed to a 3-0 home defeat against Aston Villa and finished the Premiership clash with eight men.
The pair, both England internationals, came to blows on 82 minutes shortly after Gareth Barry had put Villa 3-0 up with his second penalty of the game.
Newcastle's Stephen Taylor was sent off for deliberate handball on 73 minutes, giving Barry his first opportunity from the spot.
Colombian striker Juan Pablo Angel had opened the scoring after just five minutes.
Bowyer and Dyer appeared alongside manager Graeme Souness at a press conference after the match.
Bowyer said: "I would like to apologize to the fans, the chairman, the manager, all the players and everybody that's connected to me personally, my family and everybody that witnessed what went on today on the football pitch.
"I am sincerely sorry."
England international Dyer added: "I would like to apologize to my team-mates, the manager, the chairman, the fans and everyone connected with the club.
"We are team-mates, we have disagreements, but we shouldn't be fighting in front of 50,000 people especially as it's a crucial stage of the season."
A bemused Souness, a competitive midfielder in the trophy-winning Liverpool teams of the 1970s and 1980s, said: "It's a first for me. I've never witnessed that before.
" Hard words between players occur in every game of football but it's very unusual for it to lead to what happened today.
"Nobody said this job was easy. We were going along nicely but that's just made it even more difficult. We've got a very few hard weeks coming up but we have to remain focused."
Souness suggested that the club might appeal over Dyer's dismissal.
He said: "I have been assured by Kieron Dyer he did not throw any punches, that he was on the receiving end and that's the road we will be going down.
"I think Lee Bowyer is indefensible. I think he is guilty - as the pictures show - of throwing more than one punch. He'll have to accept whatever punishment comes his way but Kieron, I think there's an argument there."
Souness, however, insisted both players had a future at St James's Park.
"I can envisage both of them playing for Newcastle again. Players like them don't come along very often and they are both top-class players.
"But this is without speaking to the chairman, I hope he would see it like this. But if it ever happened again that would be it for the pair of them.
"That is something we cannot accept because the only people they've really hurt are the customers, the people who've saved up all week, who've gone without certain things to come to a football match today and they've seen that going on."
Referee Barry Knight had not sent off any players in the Premier League this season before this game..
Henry bags another treble
Thierry Henry scored a second successive hat-trick in Premier League play as champions Arsenal inflicted a 4-1 defeat on bottom-of-the-table Norwich to move into second place.
The French striker struck twice in three minutes after giving Arsenal as he moved to 30 goals in all competitions this season.
The first came on 19 minutes when Henry fired home a Robert Pires cross from near the penalty spot. Minutes later Henry cut past two Norwich defenders from the left wing and stroked the ball home.
Darren Huckerby pulled one back for the visitors, Norwich's first league goal away from home in almost eight hours, on minutes but Freddie Ljungberg restored Arsenal's two-goal advantage on 50 minutes before Henry completed the rout.
Manchester United dropped to third on goal difference after their goalless draw at home by Blackburn while Liverpool moved to within a point of fourth placed Everton and a Champions League spot with a 1-0 win over Bolton. Croatian midfielder Igor Biscan headed the only goal of the game with four minutes left.
In other matches, Middlesbrough won 1-0 at Crystal Palace, Charlton drew 2-2 with Manchester City and Birmingham and Tottenham drew 1-1.
