
Newcastle United welcome Man City to St James' Park on Saturday afternoon, which is a fixture that has been one of the more entertaining games in the Premier League calendar in recent years.
After a strong start to the campaign, Newcastle suffered their first defeat to Fulham (3-1) last weekend. Two goals inside 22 minutes caught out Eddie Howe's side, and despite Harvey Barnes yet again getting on the scoresheet, the comeback wasn't on for the Geordies this time round.
Returning back home, Newcastle haven't lost at St James' Park since January - although that was a 3-2 defeat against Man City. However, so far this season they've beaten Southampton and Spurs in front of their fans, and they'll be hoping they can take advantage of facing Man City without their star midfielder.
That was is Rodri, who is going to miss the entire season after suffering a ligament injury to his right knee against Arsenal last week. Many pundits and tipsters now believe this hands a serious title advantage to Arsenal, and it will be interesting to see how they adapt moving forward.
There's no time to rest for Man City. After their last gasp equaliser against Arsenal, they faced Watford at home in the EFL Cup, before making the long journey north to Newcastle.
Pep Guardiola's side remain unbeaten, but this will no doubt be their toughest task to date with Rodri no longer leading the charge in the middle of the park.
It's safe to say this fixture is definitely one for the neutral - especially with Newcastle being at home. Last year we witnessed Man City fight from behind to win 3-2 in the last minute, whereas in the EFL Cup Newcastle won 1-0 thanks to Alexander Isak's first half strike.
In 2022, they played out a 3-3 draw, and in 2021 Man City once again fought back to win 4-3. Without Rodri in the middle, this could leave Man City more exposed than usual, and we could be treated to yet again more goals in this fixture.
There's no new injury concerns for Newcastle, who remain without Callum Wilson, but Isak and Barnes are more than making up for his absence.
Barnes has scored in his last three Premier League matches, while Isak scored the winner against Spurs when Newcastle were last in action at home. Keeping those two quiet will be Pep Guardiola's main concern.
It's certainly not all doom and gloom for Man City, who have been excellent (as expected) in the first two months of the season. Erling Haaland became the first player in Premier League history to score 10 goals in just five matches after scoring the opener vs Arsenal last weekend. How you deal with him is anyone's guess.
Savinho has settled in well since completing his move from Troyes, and the Brazilian is likely to start on the right hand side once again. The left-wing is up for grabs, with Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku all fighting for that place.
Rodri leaves a big gaping hole that teams will want to exploit, but Man City's quality in the final third may be the difference.
Newcastle remain unbeaten at home in almost nine months, but that team that beat them that day finally returns to St. James' Park. Will we see a similar result? It looks entirely possible from where I'm sat.
Rightly so, there's been a lot of attention on Rodri's injury over the last week. Could that define their season and title hopes? Absolutely. Will it impact them in every match? Absolutely not.
However, Newcastle away is certainly one of those games that will be a huge test for Guardiola's side - with or without Rodri. Mateo Kovacic is a capable replacement, but he's not on the same level as Rodri, so there is now an obvious weakness to Man City's line up.
The hosts will be in a confident mood and it's difficult to see this game not producing fireworks on Saturday afternoon. This fixture has produced over 3.5 goals in four of the last five matches, and Haaland arrives in the form of his life. Clean sheets look almost impossible to tip.
With that in mind, my bet builder this week is for over 2.5 goals, Isak over 0.5 shots on target and Haaland over 0.5 shots on target at 7/5 with bet365. Good luck if you're following.
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