Top of the table Manchester City head to St. James Park to take on the bottom of the table, Newcastle United this weekend in the English Premier League. The league leaders will be full of confidence, having dispatched relegation fodder in Leeds United by seven goals to nil in their last match.
Besides a blip in their dead rubber fixture against RB Leipzig in the Champions League, City has been in imperious form. They have won their last seven games with an aggregate of 20-3 since their last league defeat against Crystal Palace on the last day in October.
Newcastle vs Manchester City FYIs:
Kick-off time: 2 PM GMT, 19th December 2021
City Team News: go here
Premier League Preview Podcast: go here
Form Guide (All Competitions): Newcastle (LDWLL) Man City (WWLWW)
Now comes the time for me to peer into the crystal ball and use its wisdom to help me predict the starting xi for Manchester City as they search for an eighth straight league win.
Ederson lines up in goals. I’ve gone on record many times about my thoughts on the Brazilian. For me, he is easily the best goalie in the Premier League at the moment and he has got to be close to the first name on the team sheet when Pep Guardiola and his staff are choosing their starting xi.
Manchester City firmly entrenched Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias as the first choice center-back pairing, and I see no reason that they don’t start here again. They are developing into one of the best pairings in the world and with these two ahead of Ederson, even the world’s best attacks will struggle to score against City.
The personnel filling the full-back spots should return to some normality after regular starters Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo both missed the demolition job of Leeds.
With Cancelo on the left and Walker on the right, City is blessed with a truly world-class back four.
Spaniard Rodri will line up at the base of the midfield. He has been brilliant this season after not convincing last campaign. Ahead of him will be Belgian superstar Kevin De Bruyne.
I am picking him to be paired with Ilkay Gundogan as City gives Bernardo Silva a well-earned rest after coming off at halftime against Leeds.
Manchester City’s attack could take so many guises, so it is difficult to predict. For this match, I am going to go with Riyad Mahrez on the right, Jack Grealish on the left with Gabriel Jesus playing through the middle.
This will be a big win for the table toppers. It could get ugly for Newcastle. If you’re a Magpies fan, maybe find something else to do Sunday afternoon, because you won’t enjoy watching this.