Check out the best facts, stats and Opta data from this Premier League match with our Newcastle vs Man City stats page
On a day when so much of the build-up focused on Erling Haaland’s mission to break Alan Shearer’s record for the fewest games needed to score 100 Premier League goals, it was instead for another reason that the Newcastle legend’s name came into the conversation.
That was because the match-winner here, Harvey Barnes, became the first Newcastle player to score twice in a Premier League game against City since Shearer in November 2003.
It was a bitterly disappointing day for City, who had been hoping to gain further ground on league leaders Arsenal, who aren’t playing until Sunday, after having gained two points on them on the last matchday before the international break.
They appeared to be gathering some momentum then, and as a result, Guardiola named the same starting XI for a third straight Premier League match, the first time he had done so in three in a row since August and September 2021 (vs Norwich, Arsenal and Leicester).
They came out intent on going for the win, which made for an incredibly open game.
Both sides would have been delighted with how many good chances they created, but neither manager could have been entirely pleased with how often they gave up huge chances.
First, Haaland was unable to turn the ball goalwards after Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope had come charging off his line. Then, Nick Woltemade went clean through but was denied by Gianluigi Donnarumma. On the half-hour mark, Barnes missed a sitter from Jacob Murphy’s ball across the face of goal. Five minutes later, Haaland missed one of his own, firing the ball straight at Pope rather than into the gaping net. Six minutes after that, Phil Foden missed arguably the best of the bunch.
By half-time, the two sides had racked up seven big chances (four for Newcastle, three for City) and 2.59 xG (1.18 for Newcastle, 1.41 for City) between them, and yet the game somehow remained goalless. It was the most big chances on record (since 2010-11) and the second-highest non-penalty xG on record (since 2012-13) in a goalless first half of a Premier League game.
Newcastle vs Man City Half-time stats
The breakthrough would eventually come through one of the players who was earlier guilty of a bad miss, as Barnes finished a much more difficult chance, as it happens, from the edge of the box following some fine work from Bruno Guimarães.
There was good reason to believe this wouldn’t be the end of the drama, though. Before this game, Newcastle had already lost three Premier League games despite scoring first – 2-1 vs Arsenal, 3-1 vs West Ham and 3-1 vs Brentford. That was as many such defeats as they’d suffered in the previous two campaigns combined.
And their lead lasted only four minutes, as Rúben Dias levelled with his first Premier League goal since December 2021 – a goal that was also scored at St James’ Park.
But rather than that proving the point at which another game would swing away from Newcastle, the home side dug in, and soon after, they went in front for a second time. Again, it was Barnes, this time bundling home an impressive backheel after Guimarães had hit the bar with a header to put his name alongside Shearer in the Newcastle history books.
Newcastle held on to their lead on this occasion and went on to record only their fourth win in 12 league games so far this season.
City and Haaland were left to rue so many missed chances, and they remain four points off Arsenal having played a game more. Whether there’s any recovering from this position remains to be seen.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Newcastle vs Man City stats from their Premier League meeting at St James’ Park.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Newcastle vs Man City Stats: Post-Match Facts
In 2025, only Manchester City (13) have won more Premier League home games than Newcastle United (11). Eddie Howe’s side have won 10 of their last 13 league games at St. James’ Park (L3).
Newcastle’s Eddie Howe picked up his first ever Premier League win over Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola in his 17th attempt (D2 L14).
The first half of this game saw seven big chances (4 Newcastle, 3 Man City) and 2.59 xG (1.18 Newcastle, 1.41 Man City). It was the most big chances on Opta’s record (from 2010-11) and second-highest non-penalty xG on Opta’s record (from 2012-13) in a goalless Premier League first half.
Enjoy this? Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over onX, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.