Kick-off: 2000, 19/08/2023
Stadium: Etihad Stadium
TV: TNT Sports
Manchester City added another trophy to their growing collection this week but might be worth opposing on their return to Premier League action.
City have been taken to penalties in both the Community Shield and European Super Cup, losing to Arsenal at Wembley but holding their nerve to beat Sevilla in the shoot-out on Wednesday.
The trip to Greece and the absence of Kevin De Bruyne mean this could be a good time to take on Pep Guardiola’s men, so we’re backing the draw at 3/1 as our first Man City vs Newcastle prediction.
Little recovery time for City
City made a sloppy start against Sevilla and fell behind to Youssef En-Nesyri’s towering header before conceding plenty of other chances but struck back through Cole Palmer’s looping header.
The Super Cup ended 1-1 after 90 minutes and Guardiola’s team triumphed 5-4 on penalties after Nemanja Gudelj smashed the last spot-kick of the shoot-out against the bar.
It was an energy-sapping night for City in hot and humid Piraeus, where the match kicked off at 10pm local time and finished in the early hours of Thursday morning.
It is a quick turnaround after a tough test, leading Guardiola to take a pop at the Premier League for scheduling the Newcastle game on Saturday evening.
“Recover, not one drop of alcohol today,” he said. “Recover as much as possible because again, from Greece, thank you so much for the Premier League to let us play on Saturday. And not on Sunday and Monday. Thank you so much.”
City made a winning start to their Premier League title defence with a routine 3-0 victory over Burnley but the visit of Newcastle looks a much tougher test and De Bruyne’s creativity will be missed.
One player who may benefit from De Bruyne’s absence is Phil Foden, who seems a guaranteed starter in midfield.
The England man opened the scoring in this fixture last season and is 7/1 to do so again in the Man City vs Newcastle odds.
Howe happy with options
Newcastle have further strengthened their squad as they prepare for a return to the Champions League and Eddie Howe is relishing the dilemma of having to disappoint players with his team selection.
The Magpies boss left summer signings Harvey Barnes and Tino Livramento, as well as last season’s top scorer Callum Wilson, sitting on the bench for their Premier League opener, but saw Wilson and Barnes come on and score in a 5-1 demolition of Aston Villa.
Howe admitted in the run-up to the game that he had “five or six” difficult decisions to make in light of a fresh £125million spending spree, Anthony Gordon’s pre-season form and the emergence of homegrown midfielder Elliot Anderson.
Newcastle have failed to score on their last four visits to the Etihad Stadium but may be more inclined to attack given the options they now have.
For the last of our Man City vs Newcastle betting tips, we’re backing both teams to score and over 3.5 goals at 21/10, while a 2-2 draw is 13/1 for punters who like to back the correct score.
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