With Newcastle coming off a frustrating loss to Chelsea at St. James’ Park, they travel to the Etihad to square up against Manchester City. City are coming off being thwarted out of their typical full points, winning only 1 point at Wolverhampton.

Opposition At A Glance

Man City Manager

Pep Guardiola is in his 3rd year as the Citizen’s boss. Last season, Man City comfortably won the Prem title with a record-breaking 100 points. They are favoured to repeat as champions this season, as well.

Tactically, Guardiola is very experimental & detail-oriented, so it can be reductive labeling his approaches. However, he does seem to favour 4-3-3 formations and high-block setups with various iterations of pressing and counter-pressing.

One area in which Guardiola stands out from others: Pep is especially keen on using one (or both) full backs in unexpected ways. In attacks (which is a predominant phase), full backs can be seen tucking into midfield, or providing width, or dropping back into the defensive line, or mixtures of these concepts.

Man City’s Current Squad

On paper, Manchester City’s squad has few glaring weaknesses. They’ve largely retained the title-winning squad from last season, with the only notable changes being a Yaya Toure subtraction and a Riyad Mahrez addition.

If there is one area of the pitch that seems to lack world-class talent, it’d be the defensive/central positions – especially with Kevin De Bruyne sidelined until November (at the earliest). That leaves an aging Fernandinho (33 years old), a workman-like Fabian Delph, and a mercurial Ilkay Gundogan as the only experienced centre-midfielders in the first team.

However, Man City is unmatched in their 10 (David Silva is still a genius) and their wide attacking players. Sterling, Sane, Mahrez, and Bernardo Silva can all exploit defensive lapses.