Alan Pardew and a new-look Newcastle are set to welcome league champions Manchester City on Tyneside in an intriguing Sunday afternoon fixture
NEWCASTLE V MANCHESTER CITY
Alan Pardew is surely on the ropes this season at St. James’ Park. After the club have done brilliantly this summer to ring in the changes in the attacking third of the pitch, the controversial Englishman will surely be pressured to deliver this season. The likes or Remy Cabella, Siem de Jong, Daryl Janmaat and Facundo Ferreyra have come in to the club, so anything less than a top eight finish will surely be seen as an absolutely failure; they have the pleasure of starting the season against the current champions.
Manchester City themselves did not start the year off on the right foot, falling to Arsenal 3-0 in a poor display in the Community Shield last Sunday. Yet still, confidence is high at the Etihad, with second-year manager Manuel Pellegrini looking to make it two league titles in his first two years on the job. City haven’t spend huge sums of money, but they’ve still strengthened and added depth to an already fantastic first-team. They’ll be looking to set the record straight on Sunday a week on after they were embarrassed at Wembley.
Predicted Starting XI’s
Newcastle (4-4-2): Tim Krul; Davide Santon, Fabricio Coloccini, Mike Williamson, Daryl Janmaat; Yoan Gouffran, Cheik Tiote, Moussa Sissoko, Remy Cabella; Siem de Jong, Emmanuel Riviere
Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Joe Hart; Aleksandar Kolarov, Vincent Kompany, Martin Demichelis, Pablo Zabaleta; Yaya Toure, Fernandinho; Samir Nasri, David Silva, Jesus Navas; Edin Dzeko
Staff Score Predictions
Drew: Newcastle 1-3 Manchester City
Ben: Newcastle 1-3 Manchester City
James: Newcastle 0-2 Manchester City
Ross: Newcastle 0-2 Manchester City
Luke: Newcastle 1-3 Manchester City