It is hard to believe that we have already reached Matchday 18 in the Premier League season, however Newcastle United might want to avoid hosting Manchester City on Sunday when the reigning champions come to town.
Pep Guardiola’s side are, unsurprisingly, overwhelming favourites to record a win when the two sides meet, with Betway Sportsbook providing them with odds of 1/4 to pick up all three points.
Indeed, whilst we might be biased considering this is a Manchester City-specific site, it is extremely hard to back any other result at the moment, either.
The Citizens are currently putting win after win together in the Premier League and have managed to keep top spot and remain clear of Liverpool and Chelsea in the fight for this season’s crown.
It could be argued that the team had suffered a blip against Wolverhampton Wanderers despite securing the win, however they managed to get back into a normal routine as they managed to thump Leeds United on Tuesday night.
As for Newcastle, they appear to be a side that will be playing Championship football next season, as they continue to struggle down the bottom and in the relegation zone.
Despite the change in ideas and the fresh faces in regards to Eddie Howe and his coaching staff, along with the consortium and new owners, things have failed to improve for the Magpies and the encounter against Liverpool on Thursday will have taken a lot out of them, both mentality and physically.
However, as we know, anything can happen in 90 minutes but Manchester City will be very wary of any complacency that could drop in. Most of their players are winners and will already know what they need to do to ensure they remain at the level they need to be, so it is unlikely any issues will occur.
Previous meetings would also suggest that the visitors will have the upper hand and should be looking to win comfortably, although they might want to avoid a repeat of what happened the last time Guardiola took his team to St. James’ Park.
Those that remember the fixture between the two sides in May will remember the seven-goal fest that took place. Newcastle took the lead twice, but City had Ferran Torres to thank as he managed to bag a hat-trick in the game and make the score 3-4.
If it is as entertaining as that once again, though, and we see three goals inside the space of four minutes, then we would not be complaining!
