Manchester City 2 Newcastle United 1: match reportO’Reilly brace enough to see off Newcastle as City continue to put pressure on Arsenal
Manchester City defeated Newcastle United 2-1 at the Etihad with two goals from Nico O’Reilly proving to be enough to get the Blues over the line. All goals came in the first half and the theme of City struggling to find the net continued despite the result. Donnarumma started in goal. Nunes, Dias, Guehi, and Ait Nouri were in defence. Rodri, O’Reilly, and Bernardo were in midfield. Semenyo, Marmoush, and Haaland were in attack.
City were in firm control of the game for most of the first half and scored within the first fifteen minutes. Capitalising on dispossessing Newcastle in midfield, Marmoush ran with the ball and passed to O’Reilly who hit it first time and the ball ripped past Pope to make it 1-0. Just the start City needed.
Newcastle remained firm and did not take long to make a response. They won a corner in the 21st minute that was played short and the ball found its way into the box to Woltemade whose header was tipped over the bar by Donnarumma. The second corner was swung into the box and headed away by Nunes. Hall collected this and put his foot through the ball and with two deflections, the ball was in the back of the net and the scores were back level after 22 minutes. An incredibly frustrating goal to concede for the Blues.
Fortunately for City, they too, would make a quick response to Newcastle’s goal. Just five minutes later, Haaland had the ball on the edge of the box with City threatening. The striker swung the ball into the box and O’Reilly was there yet again to head the ball in to make it 2-1 and City were back in the lead.
Before half-time, City had chances to double their advantage, Marmoush was through and tried to curl one in from distance but was denied by Pope. Haaland also made a good run to the edge of the box and tried to place it into the bottom left corner, but it was narrowly wide.
In the second-half, Newcastle struggled to generate chances of their own but did have large spells of possession, with City not as in control as they were in the first half. Regardless, the Blues still had chances to consolidate their victory that went begging. Semenyo made a run towards the box and fired a shot over before also having a chance in the box that was saved comfortably by Pope. Ait-Nouri made a charge into the box with Haaland to the side of him but the full-back lost the ball between his feet and was dispossessed. Haaland had a chance saved by Pope that rebounded to Foden, who also had a shot clear on goal buy was also denied by Pope.
City were almost made to regret these missed chances in the final moments when Barnes had a shot outside the box that was parried away by Donnarumma. The resulting corner was eventually cleared and the match ended 2-1.
City remain five points adrift of Arsenal following their win against Tottenham away, albeit with Arsenal having played an extra game thus far. As it stands, the title can still be won by both teams if they win all their remaining games but it appears there will still be more twists and turns to come. The Blues can at least take comfort in the fact that they don’t have another midweek game incoming this week before the fixture schedule gets busier again. They face Leeds away next week in what will be another tough fixture, with the Blues having struggled against them at home earlier in the season.
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