Key events
Newcastle United make three changes to their starting XI after the 3-1 defeat at Brentford. Tino Livramento, Fabian Schär and Lewis Hall replace the injured Kieran Trippier, the suspended Dan Burn, and the benched Sven Botman.
Manchester City are very much in If It Ain’t Broke mode following their 3-0 dispatch of Liverpool. They name an unchanged side.
The teams
Newcastle United: Pope, Livramento, Thiaw, Schar, Hall, Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy, Woltemade, Barnes.
Subs: Ruddy, Ramsdale, Botman, Elanga, Willock, Alex Murphy, Ramsey, Miley, Neave.
Manchester City: Donnarumma, Matheus Luiz, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Silva, Gonzalez, Foden, Cherki, Haaland, Doku.
Subs: Trafford, Reijnders, Stones, Ake, Marmoush, Ait Nouri, Savio, Khusanov, Bobb.
Referee: Sam Barrott.
VAR: Craig Pawson.
Preamble
Newcastle have won just one (!) of their last 35 (!!!jesuswept!!!) league meetings with Manchester City, losing 28 of them, while their manager Eddie Howe’s personal league record against the club is P18 D2 L16. There’s really no other way to frame this, is there? Godspeed, Magpie Nation.
Not wishing to further harsh what remains of Newcastle’s pre-match buzz, but City have scored in every one of their last 33 league matches against them. That’s not good, which is an eagle-eyed observation snapped into even sharper focus by the fact that only three sides in English top-flight history have bettered such a run against the same opponent, and two of those have been against … well, look …
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Chelsea v Newcastle United: 37 games between 1933 and 1969
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Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United: 35 games between 1922 and 1961
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Everton v Blackburn Rovers: 34 games between 1925 and 1962
Oh Newcastle! You really need to kick this habit. Starting tonight? Well, the Toon have lost their last two league games, while Erling Haaland already has 14 goals domestically this season – and 32 in 20 overall – so, once again, godspeed. Any members of the Toon Army, whose blood may be boiling upon reading the contents of this preamble, can thank us later if we’ve tempted the Football Gods into something that skews the stats, bordering on seismic. Kick-off is at 5.30pm GMT, and Nick Woltemade had better lace up his shooting boots this evening, is all we’re saying. It’s on!
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