Manchester City v Newcastle - The Opposition

Manchester City welcome Newcastle United to the Etihad Stadium as the blues open their home season with a tough evening match.

City will take to the pitch after returning victorious from Athens after beating Sevilla 5-4 on penalties to win the European Super Cup for the first time, and face the Geordies at the ridiculous time of 8pm.

So, let’s take a look at Newcastle, their new signings, form and a look at the boss amongst others.

Form

Newcastle stormed to the top of the first Premier League table by thrashing Aston Villa 5-1 at St James’s Park. New signing Sandro Tonali took just six minutes to get onto the scoresheet and, despite and equaliser in the 11th minute, the home side retook the lead five minutes later through Alexander Isak. The Swede added his second on 58 minutes, before late goals by Callum Wilson and Harvey Barnes completed the rout.

The toon had an excellent pre-season, winning five of their seven matches, including a 2-1 win at Rangers, a 2-0 win over Fiorentina and thrashing Valencia 4-0. Their return to Champions League football and the thrashing of Villa shows that a revitalised Newcastle are here to stay and will be challenging for silverware this season.

New Signings

The Geordie outfit splashed £55m on Italian striker Tonali from AC Milan, and the first impression is that’s money well spent. The hitman took just six minutes to score on his debut against Villa, and he’ll be looking to continue that against the blues on Saturday.

Harvey Barnes also joined the club following Leicester’s relegation from the Premier League. Despite the Foxes’ problems last season, Barnes was a stand-out performer in midfield, prompting Eddie Howe to make his move to replace the outgoing Allan Saint-Maximin.

Attacking midfielder Tino Livramento arrived in the North East a week ago, having signed from relegated Southampton for £32m.

Danger Men

If City want to continue their great record against Newcastle, they will have to work hard to contain Isak, Tonali, Barnes and Wilson. All scored in the 5-1 hammering of Villa, with Barnes also adding an assist to his name on his debut.

The Boss

Eddie Howe is the unassuming manager of Newcastle, having replaced Steve Bruce as manager in November 2021. He has since guided the Toon from mid-table to the Champions League and also took them to the League Cup Final.

He has managed 75 games with Newcastle, winning 38 and losing just 17, giving him a win ratio of 51%.

Last Time in Manchester

City faced a tough Newcastle side in March as they continued to hunt down leaders Arsenal. The Geordies were fifth in the league, had the tightest defence (15 conceded) and lost the least number of matches in the Premier League (2).

Phil Foden scored a brilliant individual goal in the 15th minute and Bernardo Silva added a second after 67 minutes to give City a 2-0 home victory.

The Newcastle Link

There have been a number of players to represent both sides over the years. In the Premier League era, there have been enough to form an entire 4-4-2 line-up and make a few subs.

Shay Given, Laurent Charvet, Steve Howey, Stuart Pearce and Sylvain Distin make a solid defensive line, while in midfield, Dietmar Hamann, Peter Beardsley, Stephen Ireland and James Milner support Andy Cole and Craig Bellamy up front.

On the subs bench, Antoine Sibierski, Joey Barton and Darren Huckerby provide extra cover, while Tommy Wright would easily deputise for Given.