Manchester City have the chance to close the gap to Arsenal to just two points if they can beat Newcastle at the Etihad. With Arsenal travelling to their North London rivals, Tottenham, on Sunday and still having to face a trip to the Etihad in April, this is set to be a pivotal weekend in the title race.
City Finding Form
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Pep Guardiola’s squad have lost just two of their last 22 matches in all competitions, this includes two wins over Newcastle – in both legs of their Carabo Cup semi-final tie.
During Pep’s City reign, we have seen his teams find form towards the end of the season, often finding their fine play at the latter stages of the Premier League is rewarded with silverware.
Let’s remember this is a club that has won six out of the last eight titles and are on the hunt to add another.
And while this iteration of Manchester City is noticeably different in a personnel sense aswell as stylistically, they still possess a number of serial winners in their ranks, namely Guardiola, Bernardo Silva, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Ruben Dias.
In the aforementioned Carabao Cup clash, City were by far the dominant side. They won 2-0 at St. James’ Park in the first leg and followed it up with a 3-1 victory at home. These previous triumphs will surely give them confidence they can once again beat the Magpies.
With their squad having enjoyed a full week of training, without a midweek game, they will be rested for this fixture. Additionally, they were able to rotate their side in their previous outing against Salford City, where they rode out 2-0 in winners to progress into the next round of the FA Cup.
Expect to see a fresh and rejuvanated side start quickly as they begin their final charge for the Premier League title.
Newcastle’s Etihad Curse
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Newcastle have never won at the Etihad in the Premier League in 20 attempts.
This combined with their torrid domestic away form this season, should point to a relatively easy afternoon for Manchester City.
However, since their loss to Brentford, Newcastle have won three away games on the bounce and look to be rejuvenated.
This weekend will be the litmus test to see if Eddie Howe has been able to dramatically turn their away form around. While a loss will be far from disastrous, a win would bolden Newcastle to make a late push for European football and potentially sneak into the Champions League places.
However, they will be dealing with the impact of their midweek trip to Azerbaijan. Their 5,061-mile trip was the longest journey ever undertaken by an English side in the Champions League.
Fatigue may be an issue for a side that is famed for their energetic approach.
Howe will also have to deal with the impact of Bruno Guimaraes’ continued absence. Newcastle have never won a Premier League game that he has missed since his arrival.
However, with the improved form of Jacob Ramsey, there is hope that the effect of their captain’s injury may be diminished.
Kick-off is at 20.00 GMT and will be live on TNT Sports 1