The Etihad awaits – Manchester City v Newcastle preview | OneFootball

Welcome to the Manchester City v Newcastle preview.

Saturday 15th February – 3pm.

Newcastle United travel to Manchester City this Saturday for a huge six-pointer, in the knowledge that victory would see them leapfrog their opponents and could go a long way to securing Champions League football for next season.

Manchester City will be desperate to perpetuate their incredible league record at home to Newcastle and also draw a line under their last league match, a disastrous thrashing at the hands of Arsenal. It’s a rare 3pm Saturday kick-off for both of these teams due to the fact that, incredibly, the match of the weekend has been overlooked for live UK TV coverage.

Newcastle are on a fine run of form that now stretches back over two months.

Twelve wins in fourteen matches across three competitions sees us sixth in the league, into the Carabao Cup final and the last sixteen of the FA Cup.

In the league, we’ve won four of our past six games with victories over Man United, Tottenham, Wolves and Southampton, being somewhat offset by disappointing home defeats against Bournemouth and Fulham. Newcastle United have scored twelve goals in these games and conceded eight. We’ll end the weekend between fourth and seventh.

Man City have won four, drawn one and lost one of their past six league matches. They’ve enjoyed wins over Leicester, West Ham, Ipswich and Chelsea, whilst drawing with Brentford and suffering a heavy defeat to Arsenal. They’ve scored eighteen goals in these six matches and conceded nine. They’ll also end the weekend between fourth and seventh.

Last time out

Newcastle went away to St Andrew’s to face Birmingham in the FA Cup and survived a scare when going a goal down inside the first forty one seconds. Close range strikes from Joe Willock and Callum Wilson put the Toon in front and when Willock had another goal disallowed, it looked like the Toon could run riot. Back came Birmingham however, who then netted with the goal of the game to level the scores and set up a pulsating second half. This tie was now in the balance and could go either way! When the winning goal did come, thankfully it was Joe Willock who fired home to send the Toon into the last sixteen where they’ll play host to Brighton in one of four all Premier League ties.

Man City hosted the mighty Real Madrid on Tuesday night and may well have had the stuffing knocked out of them by a deeply disappointing late capitulation, that saw them concede twice in the last five minutes to turn a 2-1 advantage into a 3-2 defeat. The hard work seemed to have been done through a Haaland brace but Madrid are now red-hot favourites to progress into the next round.

Stat attack!

(Look away now!)

Newcastle have never won a league match away at Man City since they moved into their shiny new stadium over twenty years ago!

NUFC have failed to find the net in their past six visits to the Etihad in all competitions. The last goal coming courtesy of DeAndre Yedlin in 2018.

Newcastle’s last league win away at Man City came in September 2000, when a second half header from Alan Shearer gave the Toon a 1-0 win.

Memorable match

When Alan Pardew’s Newcastle visited The Etihad in a 2014 League Cup tie, hardly anyone gave this young team a chance of springing an upset. Rolando Aarons had other ideas however and took just five minutes to burst into the box and slip the ball between the ‘keeper’s legs to put the Toon 1-0 up and send the away end into delirium. With Ryan Taylor having a stormer on his first game back for two years, Newcastle continued to threaten and were desperately unlucky not to be awarded a penalty. We rode our luck at times (especially when Coloccini deflected an effort against his own post) but eventually ran out 2-0 winners, when Sissoko brilliantly beat his man before finishing in front of the delighted away fans, who goaded City supporters by indulging in a Poznan celebration that the blues had recently made their own. NUFC had dumped the holders out of the cup and secured a place in the quarter-finals, on a night when everything went right. Final Score: Man City 0-2 Newcastle

Played for both

Craig Bellamy signed from Norwich in 2001 and became an integral part of Sir Bobby’s team that qualified for the Champions League. Scoring on his home debut against Sunderland made him an instant hero and what was to follow over the next four and half years would occasionally defy belief! From the highs of scoring two crucial away goals against Feyenoord to the lows of a public spat with Graeme Souness, life was never dull with Craig Bellamy around! Forty three goals in one hundred and twenty eight games doesn’t even begin to tell the tale of Bellamy’s time at NUFC.

Unfortunately, he was to leave on something of a sour note and some ill-advised text messages to a certain Mr Shearer after a cup semi-final defeat did little to improve his standing amongst Toon fans. He was subsequently booed when playing against Newcastle for Liverpool, West Ham and Man City and repaid us by scoring for all three. He signed for Man City in 2009 and netted fifteen goals in fifty one games for the citizens.

Joey Barton began his career at Man City and spent five years there before signing for Sam Allardyce’s NUFC in 2007. Breaking his foot on his debut in a friendly away at Carlisle set the tone for a tumultuous time at NUFC that was actually interrupted by a spell in prison! Like Bellamy, his Tyneside tenure was filled with highs, lows, incidents, drama, fall-outs and even the odd bit of playing football! He’s remembered for scoring an absolute cracker against Aston Villa on our return to the Premier League in 2010, opening the scoring in a 6-0 rout.

Shay Given signed for Kenny Dalglish in 1997 and was on course to become the club’s most capped player before a sudden departure to Man City in January 2009. One of the best goalkeepers of our Premier League era, Given was a crucial part of Sir Bobby’s side that challenged for the title and made the last sixteen of the Champions League. Despite almost twelve years of heroics, he’s still best remembered as the only Irishman who doesn’t know where Dublin is!

Managers

Eddie Howe after a 3-2 victory over Birmingham in the FA Cup:

“It was a really tricky game. We knew it was going to be tough and we conceded after a minute, all your thoughts are confirmed really. The atmosphere then is electric in the stadium and I thought we did well to navigate the early part of the game because it was a difficult first half for us. Mentally, physically – you could see a few players were on the edge today. We’re delighted to get through. We managed to get a foothold and did really well. At half-time it was about staying calm. I thought we did that a lot better in the second half.”

Pep Guardiola after a 3-2 home defeat to Real Madrid:

“I think they started well for 15 minutes and after we took the game and we were really good with the ball. In the second half, we could not make the passes that we needed to play. We wanted to attack so quickly but when we attack so quick with the strikers that they have it’s more difficult. After it was 2-1 but it happened too much this season. In many games it happened, against Feyernoord, Sporting Lisbon, Brentford in the Premier League Man United, many games we gave away. We have to look at ourselves and at this level it’s so difficult. It’s not the first time unfortunately it happened many times and that’s why it’s so difficult.”

Charity

As it is an away match, Newcastle United fans will not be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end, for the food bank. However, you can still help out and all online cash donations are very much appreciated. For further info and/or to donate to the food bank online go HERE.

This marks the start of a crucial run of league fixtures for the Toon, as we face three of the top five in consecutive games.

A good return from these matches would provide the perfect springboard for Champions League qualification. Man City look shaky at the moment and will have half an eye on their midweek trip to Madrid. I fancy the Toon to come away from this one with a very valuable point. Manchester City 1-1 Newcastle.

Sunday 23 February – Newcastle v Forest (2pm) Sky Sports

Wednesday 26 February – Liverpool v Newcastle (8.15pm) TNT Sports

Weekend of Saturday 1 March –  Newcastle v Brighton (1.45pm) FA Cup fifth round ITV1

Monday 10 March – West Ham v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports