Manchester City v Newcastle United – The Opposition

Manchester City welcome Newcastle to the Eithad Stadium in the penultimate game of 2020. The blues travel to Everton on Monday, but first welcome Steve Bruce’s men to Manchester as they try to keep their good record against the Toon going.

On paper, that should happen, not just because of the visitors record in Manchester, but because of their own record this season. Newcastle have won and lost five from thirteen games so far this season, with the Toon receiving a 5-2 tonking at Leeds United in their last away game.

Form

Newcastle have won just two matches on their travels this season, with the first coming on the opening day of the season, courtesy of A 2-0 win ta West Ham. Their only other away win was in November, when two goals in the last three minutes of the match saw them earn another 2-0 victory.

They lost for the first time away from home in November, when Southampton won 2-0, with the other defeat coming at Elland Road, and they have also earned credible points at Spurs and Wolves. Both ending 1-1.

Newcastle did disappoint in midweek though when they lost their League Cup quarter final tie at Brentford and scoring away from home remains an issue. The visitors have scored just 8 goal son their travels, which is one of the lowest in the league but still higher than City’s (7). However, the blues have scored 12 at the Etihad this season form 6 games, an average of 2 goals per home game, and the last time they met in this fixture, the blues put five without reply past the Geordies.

Danger Men

Callum Wilson is the main goalscoring threat for Newcastle. The former Bournemouth man has scored 8 goals in 14 games since arriving on Tyneside and has a goal conversion rate of 30%. Next is Joelinton, who has scored 3 in 16 matches. The striker has endured a difficult time at Newcastle, and his goal return so far hasn’t matched the £40m fee paid for him. The Brazilian has scored just three Premier League goals since August 2019 and 7 in total from 56 apperances, which is likely to mean a hat-trick this evening!

The pair also top the assist board, with both creating 3 goals apiece this season. They are joined by Miguel Almiron, who also has 3 assists, who also has the best pass accuracy out of the three with 86%. From 356 passes, Almiron has completed 306 in 16 games and has created 12 chances in all.

Who’s The Boss?

Former United defender Steve Bruce is in charge at Newcastle after being appointed in July 2019. Bruce had been appointed manager of Sheffield Wednesday only six months earlier.

Played For Both

There have been a large number of players to wear the blue of City and black and white of Newcastle. In the Premier League era, we can count Shay Given, Steve Howey, Sylvain Distin, Stuart Pearce, Dietmar Hamann, James Milner and Joey Barton, with the latter’s move from City becoming something of a wrangle. The fiery midfielder wanted a £300,000 loyalty payout from City as he didn’t formally request a transfer, but the club argued that as he asked to speak to Newcastle, that was effectively a transfer request. With the two at an impasse, Newcastle increased their offer to £5.3m and Barton eventually moved to Tyneside.

Other players to have featured for both clubs include Antoine Sibierski, Craig Bellamy, Andy Cole, Darren Huckerby, Stephen Ireland and Tommy Wright.

Before the Premier League era, Ray Ranson played for City between 1978 and 1984, then appeared form Newcastle between 1988 and 1993. Centre back George Heslop started his career at Newcastle, before arriving at City via Everton in 1965, as did striker George Hannah, although he arrived via Lincoln City.