Man City's emotions spilled over at full-time at the Etihad Stadium
Pep Guardiola is held back by Barry South, head of football safety and security at Manchester City, as he clashes with a TV steadicam operator after the win over Newcastle United
View 2 Images
Manchester City knew they'd been in a game. They knew they'd had to fight and scrap. The players knew. The fans knew. Pep Guardiola definitely knew.
City had come into the game against Newcastle United as huge favourites. They had lost the reverse fixture at St James' Park earlier in the season but since then had triumphed 5-1 over two legs in the Carabao Cup final and have moved to the brink of top spot in the Premier League. This is a City side starting to purr.
Not only that, but Newcastle had the weight of history and the weight of heavy legs against them. United have never won at the Etihad. They haven't beaten City in Manchester in the league in 26 years. And having just endured a 5,000 mile round trip in midweek, it was always going to be a tough ask to change that record.
City should have been the fresher side and in the early stages it looked like they could blow Newcastle away again, as they had done a few weeks prior in the cup tie. The visitors were, at times, struggling to get out of their own half.
They hung in there, however, and after Lewis Hall's equaliser was cancelled out by Nico O'Reilly's second goal, Newcastle had Dan Burn's header controversially ruled out before the break.
City had been the better side but after the break, Newcastle came roaring back. For a 25-minute spell it looked like they'd had the week off, not City, as they stamped their game on Guardiola's men, without necessarily looking like they would score.
Physically, however, Newcastle looked strong and full of running just days after returning from Azerbaijan.
Howe knew he'd need to make changes and the appearance of Joelinton and Harvey Barnes gave fresh legs. Jacob Murphy and Will Osula were also introduced but instead of giving them the impetus to push on, Newcastle lost their way. Osula looked lost, Joelinton - rusty after his lay-off - barged into more people than he made passes and it was City, know playing on the counter attack, who threatened most.
There was still time for one last push, however. Barnes was denied by the fingertips of Gianluigi Donnarumma and then several crosses almost led to an opportunity. To be fair to City - with Erling Haaland almost playing as a centre-half - they put their heads and their bodies on the line in the last few minutes.
You could see how much it meant to them at the final whistle as they closed the gap on Arsenal to two points. Guardiola raced onto the pitch, waving his arms in jubilation and pumping his fists to the crowd. A cameraman got in his way and Guardiola had to be pulled away by City's head of security as the emotions threatened to bubble over.
View 2 Images
Haaland, Donnarumma & Co embraced as if they'd won the title. That was how happy and relieved they were, and how much a tired, weakened Newcastle had scared them.
Guardiola spoke afterwards about the strength, power and danger of Newcastle and how much he admires them. He mentioned the upcoming FA Cup game as being a 'nightmare' for City.
Newcastle didn't end their Etihad hoodoo but they did frighten the life out of possibly the best side in the country and that should give them huge lift for when the fifth act gets under way.
Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings