El-Cashico ends in a thrilling stalemate at St. James's Park

Newcastle celebrate their opening goal in the six-goal thriller against Manchester City on Sunday. It ended 3-3. (Photo credit: Talk Sport)

It was the battle of the money boys on Sunday evening at St. James’s Park with most pundits giving it to Manchester City before kickoff but Newcastle had other ideas.

The champions handed a starting role to Bernardo Silva and John Stones came in for Ruben Diaz in defense; Eddie Howe opted for Miguel Almiron alongside Callum Wilson upfront and the supposedly injured Sven Botman got the nod to start as well.

It was just five minutes on the clock when Ilkay Gundogan scored his second goal of the season to hand City the lead but it didn’t last too long. Almiron repaid the faith with a sliding finish from a Saint Allan Maximin cross to level matters.

Everyone was shocked not long after as Wilson found the back of the net from the same supplier to make it 2-1 to the hosts with the ground sent to rapturous noise. Happenings of the second half would however usurp all the great moments of the first.

A sensational strike from the boots of Kieran Trippier made it to the back of the City net, 3-1 with lots on the clock as the third was scored just nine minutes after the restart; Eddie Howe would wish the rest of the game could disappear into thin air but not to be.

City ran miles, closed gaps, attempts after attempts and eventually got a goal from you-know-who to half the deficit; it was Erling Haaland’s third goal of the campaign but there was no time to celebrate as the club was trailing.

Chief orchestrator, Kevin De Bruyne set up Bernardo Silva for the equalizer and the Portuguese obliged with a fine finish that Nick Pope could do nothing about. City kept probing and thought they had a man advantage midway into the second half but VAR intervened.

Trippier saw De Bruyne going through and hacked him down deliberately, referee Jarred Gillet sent him off without questionings but he was advised to check again on the monitor and he reversed the red to yellow.

City did everything they could but the Newcastle defense stood firm for a point that would be cherished like three. City slipped to second on the log, level on points with Newcastle, Leeds United and Brighton with the latter picking a vital three points at the London Stadium to Westham.