The recent confrontations between Newcastle and Manchester City in the Premier League have always resulted in tough and fierce battles. This new face-to-face between Magpies (14th) and Cityzens (3rd), unbalanced on paper compared to different states of form, could therefore give hope for a new recital. For this poster, Pep Guardiola decided to start Rayan Cherki from the start, with Foden and Doku behind Haaland. On Eddie Howe’s side, the usual Joelinton-Tonali-Guimarães midfielder was recomposed while Murphy and Barnes accompanied Woltemade in attack. Yoane Wissa was absent, still injured.
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The first opportunity of this meeting at St James’ Park came after 27 seconds of play following a poor recovery from Donnarumma. The former Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper then made up for it by quickly lying down on the locals’ first attempt. A few moments later, it was up to City to draw with the unstoppable Haaland, whose dive ball came to nothing (3rd). Woltemade, for its part, tried to hurt Cityzens on an opportunity with a header, without succeeding (13th). The visitors thought they had obtained a penalty after a collision with Foden in the area (18th), then following a hand from Thiaw on a shot from Doku (22nd), but the VAR considered that there was nothing in these two situations. In great form, Donnarumma made a good save against Barnes (26th), before the ex-Leicester player missed the incapacitated goal a few moments later (30th).
Harvey Barnes sees double
In the second act, Donnarumma had put on his savior costume, on Woltemade’s attempt, excellently served by Murphy (58th). The Italian goalkeeper then bowed, following a high recovery of the Magpiesa nice combination between Bruno Guimarães and Harvey Barnes, concluded by a nice strike from the ex-Leicester winger (63rd, 1-0). Enough to blow up the 52,000 spectators at St James’ Park. But this joy was short-lived as it only took City five minutes to come back into the lead. Following a corner, the ball sailed around the area for a long time before falling to the feet of Rúben Dias. The Portuguese’s shot was deflected by Lewis Hall before landing in Pope’s goal (68th, 1-1). The ex-Benfica player then scored his first league goal since December 2021, and a trip to Newcastle, to relaunch this completely undecided game.
But that did not calm Newcastle’s enthusiasm, on the contrary. Following a second corner in a row, Tonali’s dangerous cross is not completely cleared. Newcastle recovered the ball in the opponent’s area and Woltemade deflected the ball towards Guimarães. His header hit the bar, but Barnes followed well to restore the advantage to the Magpies (70th, 2-1). City pushed, but Newcastle did not crack. Newcastle finally achieved their first success against the Skyblues in his lair in the championship for seven years. A victory which allows Joelinton’s teammates to build confidence before going to Marseille in the Champions League on Tuesday. On the other hand, Guardiola and his players may harbor regrets, they who had the opportunity to come back to within a point of Arsenal, before the North London Derby this Sunday against Tottenham. THE Cityzens remain third and give up their second place to Chelsea.
