Can Newcastle Halt Man City’s Perfect Record?

  Manchester City are just one of the two clubs yet to drop a point in the 2022/23 Premier League and that record would be put to test tomorrow at St. James’ Park as the Citizens visit a tricky Newcastle side. Pep Guardiola heads to St. James Park this Sunday to take on Newcastle United in the Premier League, with the Blues in search of a third straight win to remain unbeaten in the young season.

Guardiola’s side have been mightily impressive in their first two games of the campaign, dispatching West Ham United and Bournemouth 2-0 and 4-0 respectively.

In both outings, the Premier League champions controlled the tempo and smothered their opposition.

As a result, City have only conceded two shots on target across the 180 minutes of Premier League action so far.

While some questions were raised about how summer signing Erling Haaland would fit into City’s system after Guardiola’s side played without a recognised striker for nearly two seasons, the Norwegian has already cemented himself as a key figure in the side, with two goals and an assist in the first two league outings.

Without getting his name amongst the goals against Bournemouth last weekend, the striker has received some criticism for his perceived lack of involvement in the match.

However, Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne hit back at the criticism after his side’s beating of the Cherries.

“It’s hard being that focal point in the system,” De Bruyne told The Independent. “We have 11 people behind the ball pretty much all the time so in these however many touches, he was dangerous.

“You don’t need a lot of touches to be dangerous. He helps the team in many aspects and he didn’t complain, he was still helping and giving assists so it’s fine.”

With momentum on their side, City will travel to the north east to square off with a revitalised Newcastle United side, hoping to pick up all three points and remain top of the Premier League.

The Magpies have also begun their campaign unbeaten, beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 on the opening weekend and drawing 0-0 with Brighton at the weekend.

Newcastle’s steady resurgence has been plain to see, coming off the back of an extremely wealthy Saudi-based ownership group taking over the club midway through the previous campaign.

The Tyneside club brought in former Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe along with a host of new signings.

Kieran Trippier, Callum Wilson, and Bruno Guimarães are just three of the quality signings the club have made in the past eight months and the new faces have seen Newcastle slowly work their way up the table.

After a late-season push saw the Magpies secure an 11th place finish last season, Howe’s side will be in the hunt for a top-half finish this time around.

And while Newcastle are a new-look outfit thanks to new investment, Guardiola’s men will be brimming with confidence ahead of the game, as City have won the last five Premier League meetings with Newcastle by a combined score of 20-3.

After failing to secure the arrival of Harry Kane from Tottenham last summer, City retained the Premier League in the absence of a natural striker last term and signed Haaland to bolster their attacking ranks for the new season.

Haaland has hit the ground running in sky blue colours, netting on his City debut in a pre-season win against old rivals Bayern Munich in the United States.

Despite struggling in City’s Community Shield defeat to Liverpool, the 22-year-old bagged a clinical brace on his Premier League debut in a 2-0 win away at West Ham on the opening day of the season.

He followed on a five-star display at the London Stadium by settling up IIkay Gundogan for the opener in Manchester City’s 4-0 rout of Bournemouth at home last Saturday.

The spotlight has been largely on the young attacker and how he will fare in leading the line for a star-studded side that has operated without an out-and-out centre forward for the best part of two years.

Haaland is again expected to make the starting XI on Sunday.

Speaking in an interview with Four Four Two ahead of the clash, the Leeds-born striker spoke about the role Guardiola played in his move.

“Well, Pep (Guardiola) didn’t have to sell the club to me, that’s for sure. He didn’t have to sell anything,” Haaland said.

“For starters, he’s a special trainer and that was so important to me. We all know what he has done for his clubs, but also for players and for the game in general.

“That’s something I want to be part of. I think we can have a lot of fun together.”

Just short of two decades on from when his father Alf-Inge represented City, Haaland has explained why he was so keen on returning to the east side of Manchester this summer.

The young forward said: “It (the club) is huge. The facilities around us, the staff, the people around the club, it’s a huge organisation.

“It’s a very professional club, it does everything in a good way to help the players which I really like.”

To assess City’s performances across the first two weeks of the new season as ‘strong’ would be an understatement.

The defending Premier League champions moved past a threatening West Ham side to open the season, before they breezed past the recently promoted Bournemouth in their home opener.

However, when reflecting on his team’s performance in the first two weeks, Guardiola praised his defenders who have limited their opposition’s attacking chances resulting in two consecutive clean sheets.

“The fact we conceded one shot on target against Bournemouth and in the game against West Ham, apart from Michail Antonio with the header and Declan Rice, we didn’t concede much,” said Guardiola.

The Catalan manager also discussed how important it is to succeed in the early parts of the season, with the points from the early fixtures helping out later on in the season when the schedule can become more congested.

Guardiola recounted Manchester City losing in the opening weeks of the season which came back to bite them later in the season as they lost their title race with Liverpool during the 2019/20 season.

“But we cannot forget three seasons ago when Liverpool won the Premier League, we lost five points in the first five games,” explained Guardiola.

Despite the Blues’ early season success, the manager knows that they still have a full season ahead of them which will be full of different challenges for them to overcome.

“We are not champions of the Premier League yet, that’s for sure.”

“There are more than 100 points to play but I have no complaints, especially zero goals conceded,” said the 51-year-old.

One of those challenges will be the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, which will coincide with an international break period, going from late-November to mid-December.

This break has the potential of harming Manchester City according to Guardiola, as the break falls when the club is usually in the swing of things, winning game after game.

“Always in this period (early season) we drop points, then after we make maybe 12, 13, 14 games in a row winning,” said Guardiola.

“This year that isn’t going to happen because when we are strongest – October, November, December – this is the World Cup.”

With the World Cup 94 days away, yet still looming, the Catalan’s squad prepares for their clash with the Magpies as they travel to Newcastle with the hopes of making it three straight wins.