Manchester City to test Newcastle United’s progress as the moneybags clash at the Saint James Park

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Manchester City travel to Saint James' Park on Sunday evening looking to continue their 100 per cent start to the season having beaten West Ham United and Bournemouth in their opening two games.


The Citizens have enjoyed a good start and fate has also been kind on them as their main rival for the title, Liverpool are still without a win after two games while also have a number of first team players unavailable.

Pep Guardiola will be hopeful of establishing an early lead in the title charge, to make it almost impossible for chasers to catch up once they are back to their best, and winning at Newcastle on Sunday will be another step forward.

Eddie Howe’s side have shown massive improvement since the turn of the year, with only Liverpool and Manchester City the only two teams in the league to have won more points than them in the league.

The second half of last season saw Newcastle United produced some astonishing results to stay in the topflight following a poor start to the season which saw them without a win in their opening 14 games.

They've also started the new season in the same vein and have recorded four points from two games. They are the only team other than Manchester City yet to concede a goal in the league this season.

Defensively, they've been resolute. In the midfield, they've been steady and going forward, they have been more clinical albeit the money hasn't been really splash on several incomings.

This summer, Newcastle United have added just one outfield player in Dutch defender, Sven Botman arriving from Lille in a £40 million deal. The only other signing is goalkeeper Nick Pope from Burnley.

Manager Eddie Howe deserves lots of credits for the turnaround of the club in such a short period. They've made the right signings and are playing some good football. This early, they're already proving no pushovers for the top teams.


However, a Manchester City side, who have long passed the phase United are in right now can be very brutal on their day. Last season, they did the double over Newcastle, winning by an aggregate of 9-0 which included a 5-0 win in the second leg, at a time Newcastle has improved massively.

It might be too early for Newcastle to start rubbing shoulders with City but if presented the chance to hurt the visitors on Sunday, it is obvious the Magpies will take full advantage of the situation.

Manchester City have won 19 and lost only one in their last 22 league meetings against Newcastle United and have kept five clean sheets in their last six meetings across all competitions, scoring 22 times.

Newcastle United current boast a formidable home record in 2022, winning eight of the ten played and losing just once, a 1-0 loss to Liverpool in April, with the only goal coming in a very controversial circumstance as Newcastle have a player down in the build up to Naby Keita’s goal.

Watford on the evening of new year is the other team to pick a point at the Saint James' in 2022. They have made it difficult for teams traveling down to Tyne and even Manchester City will have to be at their best to get a result there.

Aymeric Laporte will miss out for Manchester City while summer signing Kalvin Phillips is also a doubt. Jonjo Shelvey, Emile Kraft and Ryan Fraser are the major absentees for the host.


Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi 

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