Newcastle Preview – City Going For Second Place

City take on Newcastle on Sunday knowing that a win over the Toon could put the blues into second place in the Premiership.

The blues will move up two places with a win, should Chelsea beat Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, putting City above the Gunners and United, who played out a goalless draw at Sunderland.

As our statistics show, City’s last home defeat to Newcastle came in September 2000, when an Alan Shearer goal gave the visitors the points and City are still unbeaten at home this season after Adam Johnson’s saved a point against Juventus in the Europa League group game on Thursday.

Johnson’s goal answered his critics who claimed his form has suffered following two impressive performances for England in the World Cup qualifiers, after the winger bagged a goal in each game. Johnson was relegated to the bench for the Carling Cup defeat against West Brom and the Premier League win over Chelsea, but was reinstated for the clash with the Italian giants and justified his selection with City’s equaliser.

“It was good to get a goal at the stadium. It has been a while coming. Hopefully it will be the start of many more. It was brilliant to score against Juventus”

Newcastle have played three away games so far this season and have won one, drawn one and lost one, but their most recent league outing ended in a 1-0 win at Goodison Park, but they will have to breach a tight City defence that has only leaked to goals in the league all season and only one at Eastlands.

If he plays, Joey Barton will finally make his first appearance back at Eastlands since moving to Newcastle in 2007.

Team News

Pablo Zabaleta is out injured after suffering a hamstring injury against Juventus, meaning Dedryck Boyata or Joleon Lescott will come in at left back, with Wayne Bridge and Aleksander Kolarov still out injured. Knee injuries keep Shaun Wright-Phillips and Mario Balotelli out and they are joined on the treatment table by Micah Richards.

Newcastle welcome back Sol Campbell from injury but Steve Harper, and the three Dans, Guthrie, Simpson and Gosling are all out injured.

Teams:

City (from): Hart, Given, Boateng, Kompany, K Toure, Boyata, Cunningham, Lescott, Silva, De Jong, Y Toure, Barry, Vieira, Milner, Johnson, Tevez, Adebayor, Jo, Santa Cruz.

Newcastle (from): Krul, Perch, Williamson, Coloccini, Enrique, Routledge, Barton, Tiote, Ben Arfa, Nolan, Carroll, Soderberg, Gutierrez, R. Taylor, Lovenkrands, Smith, Ranger, Ameobi.

League form (Last 5):

City: WLDWW

Newcastle: WDLWL

Danger Man: Andy Carroll – The striker has been fairly prolific this season and could be a handful for the City defence.

Prediction: City 3-0 Newcastle

I just think the blues will be too strong for the Toon on Sunday and will win the game comfortably.

Agree or not? Let us know your thoughts

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