Newcastle United will travel to Manchester today for their Premier League clash with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium to battle for a Champions League spot.
The Magpies return to action in the Premier League this afternoon against a team they currently match for points, goal difference and games won, lost and drawn this season.
Today’s fixture presents an opportunity for Newcastle to gain rank in their pursuit of a Champions League spot and if they can take all three points away from the North West they will climb back into the top four, leaving Man City and Chelsea behind them with 13 games to go.
Indeed, it won’t be an easy challenge for the travelling Toon as the Sky Blues are reigning champions for a reason, with quality in their team that could easily cause problems for Newcastle if they don’t approach with caution.
In terms of injuries, Joelinton and Jamaal Lascelles are ruled out for the visit to Manchester and Eddie Howe has spoken at his pre-match press conference to confirm that centre-back Sven Botman is expected to miss the game too.
The Newcastle boss revealed:
“It’s good news on Sven’s [Botman] scan, no long-term issue,”
“Short term still some pain, we think he misses this weekend.”
Dan Burn has also been a major concern after he suffered an injury in the FA Cup victory over Birmingham City, but will be subjected to a late fitness test to determine whether he will be fit to start.
“He had a scan, which was good. He has improved a lot, very quickly, so he could be close this weekend.” Howe claimed.
Burn is not the only player who will be given a late assessment, as Harvey Barnes’ return from a thigh injury and is expected to be in contention to feature soon, which is a huge boost for the business end of Newcastle’s campaign.
How could Newcastle line up vs Man City?
Nothing but Newcastle predicts that there will be seven changes from the starting eleven against Birmingham City in the FA Cup, with Eddie Howe maintaining his classic 4-3-3 formation.
In the defensive set up, we predict that Martin Dubravka will come back into the side over Nick Pope, while Dan Burn and Tino Livramento retain their places in the team.
Fabian Schar is set to return to replace Emile Krafth in the centre-back partnership and Lewis Hall will come back into his left-back position, stealing the spot from Matt Targett.
In midfield, we expect to see Joe Willock remain in the starting eleven but move back to the left midfield position after playing in the forward line last weekend, Sandro Tonali returns and Bruno Guimaraes keeps his spot to complete the trio in the centre of the pitch.
In the forward line, Alexander Isak returns to his undisputed centre-forward spot, with Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon also returning to the attacking threat after being rotated and rested during the trip to the Midlands.
