Raheem Sterling’s first-half goal stretched both Manchester City’s winning run and their lead at the top of the Premier League but much as Newcastle United were frequently bewildered by Pep Guardiola’s players, they refused to bow to the visitors’ bewitching beauty.

On an Arctic night, Rafael Benítez initially showcased a defensive blueprint capable of making Tony Pulis and Sam Allardyce blush. Then, 15 minutes from the end, he abruptly switched tactics and very nearly undid his compatriot on the counterattack.

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“The trouble with 1-0 is it’s always dangerous,” said City’s manager Guardiola. “We did well except for the last 10 minutes, when they wanted to punish us on the counterattack. But otherwise we controlled it. Over 90 minutes we were much, much better.”

It was the Spaniard’s first visit to Newcastle and he was greeted by a slightly strange looking home side. Indeed there cannot have been many in the 52,000-plus crowd who correctly guessed Benítez’s starting XI on the way to the ground.

Featuring five changes from Saturday’s win at West Ham United, the team was arranged in 5-4-1 guise and involved rare starts for Rolando Aarons, Chancel Mbemba and Paul Dummett. It seemed a selection designed to rest some of Benítez’s key personnel before impending relegation six-pointers against Brighton here on Saturday and at Stoke on New Year’s Day.

The presence of three centre halves suggested that there was a bit of – well, actually, an awful lot – of damage-limitation thrown in too. After all, City arrived seeking an 18th successive Premier League win while also hoping to extend their lead at the top of the table to 15 points.

Guardiola’s side began in suitably superior mode, dominating possession to an embarrassing extent and should have been ahead when Sergio Agüero connected with Fernandinho’s pass and shot from six yards. Agüero, though, lacked his customary ruthless incisiveness and hit a post.

When Kevin De Bruyne subsequently curved a typically superlative ball in the Argentina striker’s direction and Agüero flicked out a boot a goal, again, seemed almost inevitable but Rob Elliot reacted brilliantly to the challenge, throwing out an arm to make a fabulous reaction save.

Later the same striker – who on a better, sharper night might have scored four – directed a 20-yard shot against a post. No matter. With the visitors barely missing the absent David Silva and Ilkay Gundogan controlling the midfield pace, Newcastle were being stretched to the absolute limit and could barely escape their own half.

Not that Benítez’s players had much apparent desire for adventure. They had clearly been briefed to foil and frustrate at every turn and duly set about redefining the term “packed defence”. At times their half became so congested that City’s passing and movement effectively ran aground. There were frequently so many bodies in the area that De Bruyne and company evidently struggled to see the wood for the trees.

“As a manager I have to adapt,” said Guardiola. “It’s not easy to concentrate during 18 wins but during this run we’ve beaten teams who’ve done low-pressing, high-pressing, counterattacks, just set pieces and all-out attacking. The magnificent thing about football is managers can play any way they want but, so far, we’ve beaten them all.”

If Vincent Kompany’s latest injury offered Benítez a glimmer of hope it was misplaced. Guardiola daringly replaced his wounded centre half with Gabriel Jesus in the first half. This left Fernandinho to drop back into defence, where he had an outstanding evening.

De Bruyne did not do too badly either. When he was permitted space and time to loft an imperious ball into the area it was met to scoring effect by a stretching, straining Sterling who flicked out a leg and, courtesy of a low side-foot, diverted the ball beyond Elliot for his 13th goal of the season.

Finally forced to attack, Newcastle quickly received a reminder that, sometimes, fortune really does favour the brave. When Kyle Walker slipped, Aarons chipped Ederson before Nicolás Otamendi headed clear off the line. It was an isolated cameo but as second-half temperatures plunged below zero, City’s passing radar went slightly awry.

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Benítez had cause for faint optimism that Guardiola’s gameplan might possibly be freezing up a little.

Accordingly he introduced the counterattacking pace of Dwight Gayle and Christian Atsu, and despite Agüero rightly seeing a goal disallowed for offside after De Bruyne’s curler struck a post, the balance shifted. Suddenly City looked vaguely mortal but rather than shoot, Gayle collapsed in the face of Danilo’s penalty area challenge and was rightly booked for diving. An unmarked Gayle might also have equalised at the death but instead headed Atsu’s cross fractionally wide.

“We had to do what we did,” said a sanguine Benítez. “I’m really pleased with the performance, the only pity was we didn’t get a point against a very good side.”