Preview: Newcastle United vs Manchester City

Fulham’s 2-0 loss to Burnley affirming the Premier League Safety for the Magpies. Meanwhile, Manchester United’s home loss to Leicester City on Tuesday evening affirmed Citizens of their fifth Premier League title in 10 seasons.

As for Newcastle, another year in the Top-flight is assured owing to a recent upturn in their form. According to the form table over the last 6 games, Newcastle are 5th in the league.

We can expect Pep Guardiola to rotate heavily from now till the Champions League final to keep all the players in Prime condition but momentum to the UCL final will be the key for the Catalan coach.

Newcastle have a real chance to nick a point if they approach the game in a proactive manner as now the title is all wrapped. Also, their record isn’t much great at St James’ Park as they have only won 1 of the last four matches at Tyneside drawing two and losing one. (Remember the Ritchie Penalty)

Team News

The Toon striker Callum Wilson will miss the rest of the season through a hamstring injury and will also miss the Euro’s. ( Even though I think Southgate was not going to take him to the Euros anyway)

Photo by Newcastle United/Newcastle United via Getty Images

Wilson joins Karl Darlow, Ryan Fraser, Isaac Hayden, and Jamaal Lascelles on the sidelines with an Injury. Hayden and Fraser have started light training at Benton but couldn’t feature in this game.

This news doesn’t bring panic to the Magpies faithful with the Premier League status secured the objectives of this season are finished and the prolific striker can rest and recover hassle-free over the next few months.

Fabian Schar will be out for this one as he’s serving a three-match suspension for the red card he picked up late in the game against Arsenal.

Clark will be pushing hard for a starting berth after shaking off an injury issue.

For Man City, Kevin De Bruyne is a matchday decision for this one as he is troubled by a slight muscle issue and will likely not be risked for this one by Guardiola if he is not 100%.

John Stones will be available again after serving a three-match ban.

Formations and Predicted Lineups

Newcastle United will go with a 3-5-2/5-3-2 formation preferred against the Big sides. The Idea will be to not offer City’s attackers with any spaces to pounce upon and have a strike at goal instead try to push them out wide and force them to play crosses which can be easily dealt with by our aerially potent defense.

Between the sticks will be our Indispensable Goalkeeper Martin Dubravka who made some stunning saves against Leicester last week.

In central defense, I will go with Fernandez, Dummett, and Clark due to two reasons firstly Clark offers that classic right-foot and left-foot combination along with Fernandez, and the second and most important one is that Krafth absolutely offers nothing. (I just can’t see Sterling driving Krafth nuts and made him look like a fool) So, please Brucey make a sensible decision by playing either Clark or Manquillo instead of Krafth.

Matty Ritchie and Jacob Murphy will slot in the wing-back roles. Ritchie produced some excellent crosses into the box in the last game.

In the Midfield, we have an improved Almiron with his Ferrari F1 engine alongside Shelvey (who worked more in the last game than the previous 5 games) and Willock.

Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

Newcastle United will need to stop Willock from scoring to have any chance of keeping him beyond this summer. So you just can’t let this man through on goal.

Upfront will be the duo of Joelinton and Allan Saint-Maximin. Joe is more of a workhorse and a presser, he can be a decent creator with his hold-up but surely he’s not the one running in behind the defenses.

Prediction: Newcastle United 1-1 Manchester City

Being optimistic for Newcastle can be a killer for your health, you just can’t predict which Newcastle will turn up. Still, I predict an edgy 1-1 draw against City with Aguero scoring early and Joelinton earning Newcastle a point by scoring late in the game.

Man City have changed their approach to games this season, now they are more concerned about having control of games than destroying the opposition, they also tend to sit back and preserve the lead, and with a bit rotated lineup and Dubravka in top form I am predicting Newcastle for a deserved draw.