Manchester City vs Newcastle United preview: No new injury concerns for Guardiola

By Ric Turner, Fri 31 August 2018 16:53


Manchester City vs Newcastle United preview: No new injury concerns for GuardiolaKevin De Bruyne, Eliaquim Mangala and Claudio Bravo remain long term absentees

Manchester City vs Newcastle United

Competition: F.A. Premier League

Date: 5.30pm, Saturday 1st September 2018

Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester

Referee: Kevin Friend Assistants: S Bennett, D Eaton Fourth Official: C Pawson

Odds: City 1/9, Draw 9/1, Newcastle 25/1

Tickets: Sold out

TV: BT Sport

Manchester City

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Squad (from): Ederson, Grimshaw, Muric, Kompany, Laporte, Mendy, Otamendi, Stones, Walker, Zinchenko, Delph, Fernandinho, Foden, Gundogan, Mahrez, Sane, B Silva, D Silva, Sterling, Aguero, Jesus

Injured: Bravo, De Bruyne, Danilo, Mangala

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Form guide: WWWD

Newcastle United

Manager: Rafa Benitez

Squad (from): Elliot, Dubravka, Darlow, Clark, Dummett, Schar, Lascelles, Fernandez, Manquillo, Lejeune, Yedlin, Sterry, Sung-yueng, Murphy, Diame, Kenedy, Atsu, Rondon, Muto, Perez, Joselu

Injured: Shelvey, Ritchie, Lejeune, Manquillo

Doubtful: Lascelles

Suspended: Hayden

Form guide: LDLL

City have no fresh injury worries ahead of the visit of Rafa Benitez's Newcastle United site. Kevin De Bruyne, Eliaquim Mangala and Claudio Bravo are long term absentees. Newcastle faced some criticism for their defensive approach at home against Chelsea last weekend, but Guardiola refused to criticise Benitez's tactics and said he was relishing the challnge:

“Some teams play more defensively but that is not a problem,” Guardiola said. “Everybody can do what they believe.

“In the end, we are here to get points.

“If they decide to play in that way, we will do what we have to do.

"That is not a problem. They believe in their styles. It’s in our hands to solve that. That is the trick."

City's last home game against the Magpies at The Etihad ended in a 3-1 victory, with Sergio Aguero netting a hattrick for the Blues. Overall City have won 67 of the 177 games played against Newcastle, with 39 draws and 71 defeats.

Predicted line-up: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy, Fernandinho, D Silva, B Silva, Sterling, Mahrez, Aguero

Score prediction: Manchester City 3 Newcastle United 0