Key events
The teams are out! Newcastle wear their famous black and white stripes, City sport their equally storied sky blue. We’ll be off after a few bars of this …
… while everyone’s favourite Toon fan from Down Under, MBM regular Chris Paraskevas, writes: “I’m certainly not buying into the panic over league form that leaves us potentially in a relegation battle with Liverpool. It’s a long season ahead. Many twists and turns. Eddie will get it right: we just need to keep the faith! PS. England fans dealing with sleep deprivation and psychological trauma, I know how you feel on a weekly basis. (Not really, Australia almost always win.)”
Eddie Howe’s turn to speak to Sky. “We love playing here … our home record is really good … we are confident here … we want to try to express ourselves in the right way … certainly we have a lot of work to do in the Premier League to get back to our very best consistently … the team has to function really well to limit [Erling Haaland’s] space and the potential damage he can do to us … our technical delivery has to be really high … we certainly have some really good technical players on show today … it was a two-week break … much needed to refocus our mindset … we will attack these games we have … a really busy spell between now and the end of January … unrelenting but also really exciting … a lot of different challenges to come.”
Howe also reports that Kieran Trippier has a “very minor hamstring issue”.
Pep Guardiola talks to Sky Sports. “Now the real season starts … no international breaks … every two, three days … everybody will be involved … [Newcastle] are an aggressive team … quality … speed … so aggressive … defend compact … transition … a top Champions League team … Eddie [Howe] has created a fantastic team.”
The Premier League table has a brand-new look as a result of all the earlier kick-offs. Chelsea have leapfrogged Manchester City into second place after their 2-0 win at Burnley, though City can reclaim that position by winning or drawing this evening. Newcastle have also been knocked down one place, from 14th to 15th, thanks to Fulham’s 1-0 win over Sunderland. Like City, they’ve got a chance to get back to where they started the day, but they’ll need to win this match to do so. Tim de Lisle has all the details of the 3pms in today’s Clockwatch.
Manchester City have won their last four matches in all competitions to the cumulative score of 13-3. No wonder Pep is in the mood to crack wise with a few zingers. Will Unwin reports.
Newcastle United make three changes to their starting XI after the 3-1 defeat at Brentford. Tino Livramento, Fabian Schär and Lewis Hall replace the injured Kieran Trippier, the suspended Dan Burn, and the benched Sven Botman.
Manchester City are very much in If It Ain’t Broke mode following their 3-0 dispatch of Liverpool. They name an unchanged side.
The teams
Newcastle United: Pope, Livramento, Thiaw, Schar, Hall, Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy, Woltemade, Barnes.
Subs: Ruddy, Ramsdale, Botman, Elanga, Willock, Alex Murphy, Ramsey, Miley, Neave.
Manchester City: Donnarumma, Matheus Luiz, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Silva, Gonzalez, Foden, Cherki, Haaland, Doku.
Subs: Trafford, Reijnders, Stones, Ake, Marmoush, Ait Nouri, Savio, Khusanov, Bobb.
Referee: Sam Barrott.
VAR: Craig Pawson.
Preamble
Newcastle have won just one (!) of their last 35 (!!!jesuswept!!!) league meetings with Manchester City, losing 28 of them, while their manager Eddie Howe’s personal league record against the club is P18 D2 L16. There’s really no other way to frame this, is there? Godspeed, Magpie Nation.
Not wishing to further harsh what remains of Newcastle’s pre-match buzz, but City have scored in every one of their last 33 league matches against them. That’s not good, which is an eagle-eyed observation snapped into even sharper focus by the fact that only three sides in English top-flight history have bettered such a run against the same opponent, and two of those have been against … well, look …
Chelsea v Newcastle United: 37 games between 1933 and 1969
Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United: 35 games between 1922 and 1961
Everton v Blackburn Rovers: 34 games between 1925 and 1962
Oh Newcastle! You really need to kick this habit. Starting tonight? Well, the Toon have lost their last two league games, while Erling Haaland already has 14 goals domestically this season – and 32 in 20 overall – so, once again, godspeed. Any members of the Toon Army, whose blood may be boiling upon reading the contents of this preamble, can thank us later if we’ve tempted the Football Gods into something that skews the stats, bordering on seismic. Kick-off is at 5.30pm GMT, and Nick Woltemade had better lace up his shooting boots this evening, is all we’re saying. It’s on!
