After Wednesday’s dramatic win over Man Utd saw us kick-off March with a potentially season-saving three points in the Premier League, Newcastle United switch focus to the FA Cup this weekend.
In what is our FOURTH home game on the spin, with another to come on Tuesday against Barcelona, Eddie Howe’s Mags take on Pep Guardiola’s title-chasing Man City in Saturday night’s 8pm kick-off.
A place in the quarter-final is on the line, and while we’ve lost three of our four meetings with City so far this season, we head into this one with renewed belief after our 10 men found a way to beat an in-form Man Utd side on Wednesday night.
It’s yet another major test in what promises to be a season-defining March, with huge games in the cup, league and European competition all to come. But, under the lights at St James’ Park and with revenge on our mind after recent tight defeats to Man City, we have to keep believing after wins over Bournemouth and Aston Villa in previous rounds.
Speaking to the media on Friday morning, Howe had this to say ahead of Saturday night’s cup tie:
> _“The games against Manchester City have all been close. We’ve have had chances against them. I don’t think we’ve been as clinical as we need to be to win those games and, of course defensively, we need to be watertight._
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> _“They’re always going to test you. They are a difficult team to pin down in every moment. It will be a proper FA Cup tie where it’s one of those end-to-end games. That will suit us and we will need to get the crowd involved.”_
Team news
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Jacob Ramsey will serve his one-match ban from Wednesday’s baffling red card, and the game comes too soon for Lewis Miley, who is due to miss the next couple of games.
Nick Woltemade (sickness) should return and Tino Livramento has a slim chance of being back in the squad, while Bruno Guimaraes, Fabian Schar and Emil Krafth remain out.
For Man City, Nico O’Reilly is facing a late fitness test, while Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic remain out. Jeremy Doku is fit again and could feature.
Predicted XI
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_**(4-3-3):** Ramsdale – Trippier, Thiaw, Burn, Hall – Willock, Tonali, Joelinton – Murphy, Gordon, Barnes._
_**OUT:** Ramsey and Elanga._
_**IN:** Willock and Murphy._
I would quite like to see Trippier and Joelinton protected for Barcelona next week, and a switch to a back three, allowing Botman to come in and Murphy switching to a right wing-back role.
However, I think Howe is more likely to make minimal changes, aside from Willock in for the suspended Ramsey and potentially Murphy in for Elanga, with the latter’s pace likely to be a real weapon against Barca’s high line.
Match prediction
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We may have lost three of our four meetings with Man City this season, but our one win came at St James’ Park and some of those defeats didn’t tell the full story, with us spurning so many chances in both legs of our Carabao Cup semi-final defeat.
You get punished by Pep’s City side if you’re poor at either end, so we’ll have to be on it tactically, technically and physically if we’re to advance to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
I predicted a 2-2 win in midweek and we won. Let’s hope the same happens again here!
**Prediction:** Newcastle 2-2 Man City
Howay the lads!