Match Preview: Newcastle vs Manchester City

Newcastle United will welcome Manchester City to St. James’ Park tomorrow in the FA Cup quarter-final.

Both sides will be looking to make it through to the semi-finals and a chance to play at Wembley. 

Wednesday night saw Newcastle draw 1-1 at home to Aston Villa. The home side failed to hold onto a 1-0 lead with Villa scoring in the 83rd minute. A win for the home side would have seen them go one point behind ninth-placed Arsenal.

Thursday night saw Manchester City officially lose the title to Liverpool after losing 2-1 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The away side dominated the possession, but their defensive frailties cost them again as it has for most of the season. A Benjamin Mendy error allowed Christian Pulisic to go through one on one and slot past Ederson in goal. Then a save by Fernandinho on the line which any keeper would have been proud to make allowed Willian to make it two for Chelsea. Kevin De Bruyne scored a spectacular freekick to give City hope of being champions for one more week. 

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The sides have met once in the league already with a late Jonjo Shelvey goal earning Newcastle a point at home in a 2-2 draw. 

Newcastle come into this game in good form winning two and drawing two of their last four league games. Interestingly, Newcastle have not lost at St James’ Park since New Year’s day, losing 3-0 to Leicester City.

The big question regarding City is how will they respond to losing the title which had been theirs for the last two seasons. They should be confident of winning the competition after beating Watford 6-0 in the final last year.

The team news for Newcastle seems them without both Matty and Sean Longstaff again as the brother recover from injury. Both Matt Ritchie and Isaac Hayden will face late fitness test after picking up knocks midweek. Whilst Algerian midfielder Nabil Bentaleb will miss the game through suspension. 

The team news for Manchester City sees them without Fernandinho who’s ban carries over into the competition. They will be without Sergio Aguero through injury which could open the door for Gabriel Jesus to return to the starting XI. Another player who could return to the starting line up is Phil Foden, who will be looking to return from a dead leg.

Newcastle team prediction: Dubravka; Yedlin, Schar, Lascelles, Fernandez, Rose; Almiron, Hayden, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin; Gayle

Manchester City team prediction: Ederson; Cancelo, Otamendi, Laporte, Zinchenko; De Bruyne, Rodri, D Silva; Bernardo, Jesus, Sane

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