Manchester City took another chunk out of Arsenal’s ever-dwindling lead at the Premier League summit. Look back on a tense game with the best facts and Opta data in our Man City vs Newcastle stats page.
Manchester City just about did enough to beat Newcastle 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and reduce Arsenal’s lead at the summit to only two points thanks to Nico O’Reilly’s brace.
After league leaders Arsenal failed to beat Wolves in midweek, City know Premier League title success is in their hands because they still have to face the Gunners – win all their remaining games, and they will regain their crown regardless of what Mikel Arteta’s men do.
Pep Guardiola’s side weren’t exactly spectacular on Saturday, though, and that will spawn questions of whether they’re actually good enough to usurp Arsenal.
They had very little control in the second half, and against a side less impacted by injuries than Newcastle, they may have come unstuck. That was reflected by a tense and nervous atmosphere at Eastlands in the second period.
City remain outsiders in the title race according to the Opta supercomputer, though this result saw their chances of success go from 16.8% in the 10,000 pre-match simulations to 21.4% afterwards.
Man City vs Newcastle xG map
City’s start wasn’t exactly furious, but their first shot in the 14th minute still yielded their opening goal.
Omar Marmoush led a rapid attack into the Newcastle half before slipping a pass to his left, which O’Reilly rifled into the bottom-left corner from just outside the area.
Lewis Hall equalised eight minutes later when his 20-yard deflected effort beyond Gianluigi Donnarumma, making him the first Newcastle player to score away to City in the league since DeAndre Yedlin in September 2018.
But City quickly re-established their lead.
Antoine Semenyo brilliantly released Erling Haaland, whose pinpoint cross was headed in by O’Reilly, taking him to three goals in his last two league games, as many as he’d managed in his previous 33 top-flight outings.
Newcastle had a second equaliser frustratingly ruled out for a marginal offside against Dan Burn on the stroke of half-time – despite that blow, the visitors (and Arsenal) weren’t out of hope yet.
After all, City had failed to win three of their last five Premier League matches when leading at half time (W2 D3).
Newcastle will have been further encouraged by City’s intensity dropping off considerably after half-time.
In the first period, they had 63% of the ball; that reduced to 47% for the second half as of the 74th minute, and it continued to drop.
Nevertheless, clear-cut opportunities remained at a premium for injury-ravaged Newcastle, and despite their huffing and puffing, City’s defence came out on top time and time again.
It wasn’t pretty, but City got the job done to move to within two points of Arsenal for the first time since 30 December.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Man City vs Newcastle stats from their Premier League meeting at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
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.
Man City vs Newcastle Post-Match Facts
Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly scored his first Premier League brace, on his 35th appearance in the competition, netting in consecutive home league games for the first time.
Nico O’Reilly’s opener was Manchester City’s 500th Premier League goal at the Etihad under Pep Guardiola, they’ve netted 68 more home goals than any other team in the competition since 2016-17, while only Manchester United at Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson (910 goals) have scored more goals at one stadium in Premier League history.
Manchester City have won 16 of their last 19 Premier League home games (D2 L1), averaging 2.5 goals per game and conceding just 13 goals in total.
Manchester City won their 17th Premier League home game in a row against Newcastle United and their 33rd victory overall against the Magpies – more wins than against any other opponent in the competition.
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