Game Week 25 Predictions: City to beat Newcastle

Manchester City vs Newcastle Etihad Stadium 4:00 pm Manchester City hosts Newcastle, seeking to bounce back from recent struggles.

Erling Haaland will hope to drive Manchester City to a great result but, will the champions' defense keep things together against Alexander Isak? (Photo credit: Opta)

 Manchester City vs Newcastle

Etihad Stadium

4:00 pm

The champions were decimated at Arsenal before the FA Cup break, and then they laboured hard against League 2 side Leyton Orient in the cup before seeing a 2-1 lead turn to a 3-2 defeat in the hands of Real Madrid in the Champions League in midweek.

The situation with Manchester City is hard to understand; their key men are available, and they spent almost 200m GBP in the winter window to reinforce the squad, yet they’re still not assured and can’t even see out games.

Newcastle is in a great mood after booking a place in the Carabao Cup final, where they will meet Liverpool at Wembley after a clinical 2-0 win over Arsenal last week. This should help them when they face the champions at the Etihad.

Eddie Howe’s side is oscillating between brilliance and mediocrity, but when they want to be good, they can be impossible to play against; however, they have it in them to also drop stinkers; they can’t afford to allow the Cityzens to bully them.

What is at stake for both sides? Chelsea lost at Brighton on Friday; this means the champions can make the fourth spot theirs with a win; however, Newcastle can also usurp the Blues if they manage to get past the champions, while Chelsea will hope both settle for a draw.

Eddie Howe will restore key men into the starting eleven after seeing his second string struggle for a result against Birmingham in the cup game last weekend; it took a last gasp Joe Willock brilliance to earn them a fifth round ticket.

How will they both line up? The hosts will have an eye on the trip to the Santiago Bernabeu in midweek; it’s a game they must win having lost the first leg at the Etihad, so will Pep Guardiola rotate with that game in mind, or will he go full strength against the Magpies?

Sven Botman and Dan Burn are both major doubts for this one, leaving Eddie Howe short at the back, but Fabian Schar and Emil Krafth should be the men to do the honours with youngsters Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall stepping in at full backs.

Watch out for Omar Marmoush for Manchester City and Phil Foden. Guardiola will rotate the other two (Jeremy Doku and Savinho) with Real Madrid in mind. Kevin De Bruyne got the goal in the FA Cup but couldn’t do much against Real Madrid; he is expected to start on the bench.

Verdict: City to win.