Pep Guardiola has kept the same starting XI from our 3-0 win over Liverpool for today's trip to Newcastle.
The boss is clearly happy with the balance of the team from defence to attack and so sticks with what worked so well against the Premier League champions.
It could be an historic day, too, with the possibility of Erling Haaland becoming the fastest player ever to reach 100 Premier League goals - on the ground that the current record holder, Alan Shearer, is still a legend.
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Line-ups
CITY: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Nico, Bernardo (C), Foden, Cherki, Doku, Haaland
Subs: Trafford, Reijnders, Stones, Ake, Marmoush, Ait-Nouri, Savinho, Khusanov, Bobb
NEWCASTLE: Pope, Livramento, Schar, Thiaw, Hall, Guimaraes (C), Tonali, Joelinton, J. Murphy, Barnes, Woltemade
Subs: Ramsdale, Ruddy, Botman, Elanga, Willock, A. Murphy, Ramsey, Neave, Miley
Formation and tactics
It looks fairly straightforward on paper.
Gianluigi Donnarumma will have Matheus Nunes at right back and Nico O’Reilly at left-back.
Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol continue their blossoming central defensive partnership, while in midfield Nico Gonzalez will anchor the midfield three that is likely to include Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki.
Bernardo could also play centrally, or just drift in from the right, while Jeremy Doku will be in the left and Haaland will play as our striker.
Continue where we left off?
International breaks can occasionally be a blessing for teams with a number of injuries or in poor form.
A chance to regroup, recover and rejuvenate.
But it can also be an interruption if you are a side in top form - like City have been.
The Blues went into the break as the Premier League’s form team and we’ll be looking to pick up from where we left off against Liverpool earlier this month.
Newcastle United might not have had the greatest of starts to the season, but they are always a tough proposition at St James’ Park.
Starting well, getting a goal if possible and quietening the home support is the ideal scenario on a ground we’ve done incredibly well on in recent years.
City have, in fact, scored in our last 33 games against the Magpies - our best successive goals record against any side.
Woltemade threat
Nick Woltemade has quickly become a talismanic figure on Tyneside.
Standing at six feet, six inches, the German striker is a towering presence in the box and will be a handful for Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol.
With six goals in 14 games, he has quickly settled into life with the Magpies and he is an instinctive player who is hard to second-guess.
Of course, with players like Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimarães, the hosts have quality all over the pitch.
Stats & facts
Newcastle United have won just one of their last 35 Premier League meetings with City (D6 L28), a 2-1 home win in January 2019 under Rafael Benítez.
City have won 12 Premier League away games against Newcastle, their joint-most away victories against an opponent in the competition (also 12 vs Everton).
City have scored in each of their last 33 Premier League games against Newcastle. Only three sides have had a longer scoring streak against an opponent in top-flight history – Chelsea vs Newcastle (37 from 1933-1969), Tottenham vs Newcastle (35 from 1922-1961) and Everton vs Blackburn (34 from 1925-1962).
Newcastle have lost their last two Premier League games, last losing more consecutively in January 2024 (4). They’ve opened the scoring in both of their last two, never losing three in a row when leading each time.
City lost two of their first three Premier League games this season (W1), conceding four goals in the process. Since then they’ve lost just one of their last eight (W6 D1), conceding just another four goals in this run.
Newcastle have lost three Premier League games despite scoring first this season, going down against Arsenal (1-2), West Ham (1-3) and Brentford (1-3). It’s as many defeats as they’d suffered in the previous two campaigns combined (1 in 2024-25, 2 in 2023-24), while they last lost more in 2021-22 (4).
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has won none of his 18 Premier League meetings with City (D2 L16) – it’s the most a manager has faced an opponent in the competition without ever winning.
City’s Erling Haaland has 14 Premier League goals this season, almost twice as many as the next highest scorer (Igor Thiago, 8). His next goal will be his 100th in the competition, while a goal in this match (or indeed any of his next 15 apps) will make him the fastest to reach this milestone.
Erling Haaland has scored 19 goals in all competitions for City this season (excl. Club World Cup). A goal in this match would be the third earliest (by date) a Premier League player has reached 20 in a campaign, after Andrew Cole in 1993-94 (21st November) and Haaland himself in 2022-23 (8th October).
All three of Nick Woltemade’s non-penalty goals for Newcastle this season have been from first time shots – only Jean-Philippe Mateta (4) has scored more with 100% of them coming from first time shots.