Manchester City vs Newcastle United preview: Stones to start against Magpies

By Ric Turner, Wed 08 July 2020 11:17


Manchester City vs Newcastle United preview: Stones to start against MagpiesEngland international to make first appearance since March

Manchester City vs Newcastle United

Competition: F.A. Premier League

Date: 6.00pm, Wednesday 8th July 2020

Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester

Referee: Andrew Madley Assistants: R West, A Garratt Fourth Official: K Stroud

Odds: City 1/8, Draw 10/1, Newcastle 25/1

TV: BT Sport

Manchester City

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Squad (from): Bravo, Carson, Ederson, Cancelo, Garcia, Laporte, Mendy, Otamendi, Stones, Walker, Zinchenko, De Bruyne, Foden, Gundogan, Mahrez, Rodri, B Silva, D Silva, Sterling, Jesus

Injured: Aguero

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Form guide: WLWWL

Newcastle United

Manager: Steve Bruce

Squad (from): Dubravka, Darlow, Keen, Dummett, Schar, Lascelles, Krafth, Fernandez, Manquillo, Yedlin, Rose, Shelvey, Ritchie, Aarons, Lazaro, Almiron, Atsu, Bentaleb, M Longstaff, Carroll, Joelinton, Saint-Maximin, Gayle, Yuto

Injured: Lejeune, S Longstaff, Clark, Hayden

Doubtful: Saint-Maximin, Lascelles, Almiron, Carroll

Suspended: None

Form guide: WDLWD

John Stones will start against Newcastle, Pep Guardiola confirmed on Tuesday. The centre-half has been struggling with an ankle injury, and hasn't featured yet since football resumed in England.

“We cannot forget he didn’t make a pre-season after two months," Guardiola said. "After two or three sessions he got injured and didn’t train until last week.

“I saw Eric [Garcia] and Aymeric [Laporte] did well together against Arsenal and wanted to give them more minutes to play together.

“But I will give you some more news: tomorrow he is going to play.”

City won the last game against Newcastle at The Etihad 2-1, courtesy of goals fromRaheem Sterling and Kyle Walker. Overall City have won 69 of the 181 games played against the Magpies, with 40 draws and 72 defeats.

Predicted line-up: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy, Rodri, De Bruyne, D Silva, Mahrez, Sterling, Jesus

Score prediction: City 3 Newcastle 0