Newcastle United travel to the nightmarish Etihad Stadium on Saturday night to face Manchester City in MD27.
Newcastle arrive on the back of three consecutive away wins in three different competitions, which is great if not taking into account that they simply lost their superpowers the minute they step into the Cityzens’ ground.
Anyway, the Magpies have put together a run including a 2-1 league victory at Tottenham Hotspur, which was followed by a 3-1 FA Cup win at Aston Villa and a 6-1 Champions League playoff first-leg win at Qarabag. They have scored 11 goals across those matches and now seek an impossible-in-blue-Manchester fourth straight away success.
Eddie Howe remains without Bruno Guimaraes, Tino Livramento, Yoanne Wissa, Fabian Schar and Emil Krafth through injury, while Lewis Miley and Sven Botman will be game-time decisions. Joelinton returned from a groin issue as a substitute in midweek and could return to the starting XI, while Anthony Gordon scored four times against Qarabag and will be key on Saturday.
Manchester City, meanwhile, have all of the reasons to blast NUFC this weekend. Pep Guardiola’s team sits second in the table and can close the gap on Arsenal with a win, still having to face the Gunners later in the season with a chance to overtake them in the table by just taking care of their schedule.
City defeated Newcastle 5-1 on aggregate in the recent EFL Cup semi-final and have won their last six home league matches against the Magpies without conceding. Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic remain unavailable, while Erling Haaland is expected to return in full form.
Here are some of Howe’s Wisdom Nuggets, courtesy of NUFC.co.uk
On Botman, Livramento and Wissa’s fitness…”(Livramento’s) making good progress but I don’t think we’re going to shave too much time off the early March target for him.
”Better news on Sven, he could be in and around this game.
“I don’t think he’ll (Yoane Wissa) be available tomorrow but I don’t think he’ll be too far off. Maybe the Qarabağ game. It was in training, a nasty knock but I think he’ll be fine.”
On the three away wins, scoring 11 goals in the process…“A lot of positives to come out of the last few games. Three away wins which is a great return. Three different games, three tough games in their own right but the performances have been really good.
“The individual performances of the players and then, collectively, we’ve looked a really good team so I’ve been very happy with how the team’s functioned and played. We want to continue that feeling.”
On Anthony Gordon, who took his goalscoring tally to 10 in the UEFA Champions League after netting four first half goals against Qarabağ…“Anthony has some really good qualities in that position [centre-forward]. His pressing intensity but also is tactical understanding of when to do it and how to do it is of the very highest level.
“A couple of our goals came from his regains and that’s not by luck, it’s by his really good judgement. I was delighted with his performance.”
On Nick Woltemade…“He seems really happy. What you see is what you get with Nick. He’s always laughing, been very good in the dressing room.
”He’s built a really close relationship with Malick (Thiaw) which is great to see him build that with one of his teammates but he’s also well liked by the group. That’s a big thing for any player.
”The guys really respect and like his personality and the fact he’s very much a team player. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, he’s one of the lads, so when I hear reports that he’s not happy, that’s not the player I’m seeing.
“He’s looked really good on the pitch in the last few games, performing at a really high level.”
On midweek travel, with Newcastle making the longest-ever distance by an English team for a Champions League fixture…“You have to. I don’t think there’s a choice there. In some respects, the necessity to recover and be at your best again is a sobering thought when you play Man City and that in itself focuses the mind to not look for excuses.
“We have to turn up and be the best version of ourselves and give everything we can to win another game. The players know they have to be ready.”
On facing Man City for a fourth time this season, with the Magpies also hosting Pep Guardiola’s side in next month’s Emirates FA Cup fifth round tie…“I think we learn something about ourselves and our game going forward everytime we play them. They have been the benchmark for a number of years in the Premier League.
”I think you grow from it and that’s what we try to do so then when we play other teams, we try to evolve and improve. A big mark to their consistency levels season upon season.
“I think they’ve been very good, led by an outstanding manager. They continue to be the benchmark.”
Date: Saturday, February 21st
Kick-off: 20:00 BST / 15:00 EST
Location: Etihad Stadium, Manchester (England)
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