Newcastle v Manchester City – The Opposition

Manchester City travel to Newcastle for their final match before festive madness, knowing a win will ensure top spot at Christmas. The blues go into the match on the back of thrashing Leeds 7-0 and face a Newcastle ide who are level on points with bottom-placed Norwich City and three points from fourth from bottom Watford.

City have a decent record at St James’s Park, and with Newcastle losing their last two, it could be a good day for the blues on Sunday.

Form

Newcastle have won just one match all season, which came at home to Burnley on 4^th December. Callum Wilson scored five minutes before half time to give Newcastle their first three points, in what has been a troublesome campaign for the Magpies.

The have lost successive matches at Liverpool (3-1) and Leicester (4-0), and before their win over Burnley, took just four points from their previous eight matches. That included two 1-1 draws with Norwich and Brighton, and a 3-3 home draw with Brentford, a match which saw the Magpies go 2-1, then 3-2 down before levelling.

Their last win over City came in January 2019, which was the last time the blues dropped points in the Premier League as they won the remainder of their matches to claim the title and first ever domestic treble.

Danger Men

Wilson is Newcastle’s top scorer with 6 goals so far, with them all being scored in Premier League matches. Wilson has attempted the most shots of the Newcastle team with 23 from 13 matches and has a goal conversion rate of 26%.

Allan Saint-Maximin has 4 goals to his name, with 3 coming in the Premier League. The French striker has attempted 22 shots from 18 matches, giving him a goal conversion rate of just 14%.

However, Saint-Maximin leads the Newcastle assist chart with 3 so far. He has created a total for 24 chances and attempted 377, 289 of which have been completed, giving him a pass accuracy of 77%.

The one to watch in the Newcastle side is Matt Ritchie. From 15 matches, he has created 26 chances and has the highest number of passes in the Magpie’s side with 451. From those, he has completed 350, a pass accuracy of 78%.

Who’s the Boss?

Steve Bruce started the season at the Newcastle helm but was sacked when the club takeover was completed. Eddie Howe took over on 8^th November and has presided over 6 games so far. His team has won 1 and lost 3, meaning a win percentage of just 16%.

Last Time Out

These two teams met in May and played out a seven-goal thriller at St James’s Park. Emil Krafth gave the home side the lead, but Joao Cancelo levelled six minutes before half-time. Ferran Torres gave the blues the lead three minutes later, only for Joelinton to equalise from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time.

Joe Wilcock then gave the Magpies the lead on 62, but two goals in four minutes from Torres gave the blues a 4-3 win and sent the Spanish international home with the match ball.