Newcastle United latest news: Manchester City have a major injury concern to deal with ahead of their games against Nottingham Forest and Eddie Howe’s side.
The Magpies will meet the Citizens for the fifth time this season when they clash in the FA Cup Fifth Round at St James’ Park on Saturday night. The visitors will enter that match having won three of their previous four meetings with victories in both legs of their Carabao Cup semi-final meeting as well as in their Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium less than a fortnight ago.
Before Saturday’s game, though, both teams have tricky looking Premier League matches to navigate this week. Eddie Howe’s side host Manchester United at St James’ Park, whilst the Citizens welcome Nottingham Forest to the Etihad Stadium with huge ramifications at both ends of the table no matter the result.
Guardiola, though, will be sweating on the fitness of his star striker for both matches after admitting that the Norwegian international didn’t train on Monday after suffering ‘a little injury’ in the build-up to their win over Leeds United on Saturday evening.
“He feels much better but we didn't train yesterday,” Guardiola said about Haaland on Tuesday. “Now we have training and will decide today.”
Losing Haaland for their clash at St James’ Park, on paper, seems like a big blow for Manchester City. However, the former Borussia Dortmund man has an unusually poor record against Eddie Howe’s side during his time in England and has gone nine matches without scoring against the Magpies. His only goal for City against Newcastle United came on his very first appearance in the fixture back in August 2022.
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That match ended with six goals being shared between the teams after a ferocious encounter at St James’ Park and will most likely be remembered for Kieran Trippier’s stunning free-kick and a scintillating performance by Allan Saint-Maximin.
Newcastle United injury news v Manchester City
Even if Howe’s side can come away from their game against Manchester United unscathed on Wednesday night, then they know that they will head into their FA Cup game against the Red Devils’ city rivals still with a number of injury issues to contend with. At the forefront of their worries will be the continued absence of Bruno Guimaraes.
The Brazilian hasn’t featured since picking up a muscle injury against Spurs last month and is currently back in Brazil recovering from that injury. Guimaraes won’t feature this weekend and is not expected back in action until the international break later this month.
The Magpies are yet to win a Premier League game that Guimaraes hasn’t started since he made his full debut for the club over four years ago. Elsewhere, long-term absentees Fabian Schar and Emil Krafth will also miss out this weekend.
Whilst there is hope that Tino Livramento can feature, it’s likely that the Magpies will act with caution over throwing him back into the team too quickly. Lewis Miley will also miss out this weekend but could be back before the international break.
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