Manchester City travelled to St. James Park to take on Newcastle United on Wednesday night, looking to stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League table to a mammoth 15 points over rivals Manchester United. Pep Guardiola’s men have been in sensational form this season and have won 18 of their 19 league games going into this clash at Tyneside. The Citizens opted for a 4-3-3 formation to counter the Magpies’ ultra-defensive 5-4-1 formation.
The unbeaten Manchester City team began the match on the front-foot and never looked back. It was the City attack versus the Newcastle defence all throughout the first half. After being denied by the Magpies for the first half an hour of the match, the Citizens finally took the lead through Raheem Sterling when the English speedster was put through on goal by a delicate through ball from Kevin De Bruyne. Newcastle tried to come back after conceding and almost scored the equaliser a few minutes later when Rolando Aarons’ delicate chip was cleared off the line by a superb header under pressure from Nicolas Otamendi. The Citizens went into half-time with a narrow 1-0 lead following a lot of missed chances in front of goal.
Rafael Benitez’s men tried their best after the break but couldn’t manage to get anything meaningful going in the final third. Manchester City ran out 1-0 winners on the night which consolidated their lead at the top of the Premier League table.
Let’s take a look at how each Manchester City player fared during the match.
GK: Ederson – 6/10
The Brazilian goalkeeper was hardly called into action but distributed the ball well with his feet.
RB: Kyle Walker – 5/10
Not the best game from the English full-back. He was at fault for letting Rolando Aarons almost score from a Newcastle break. However, he recovered well from that incident and didn’t do much wrong in the second half.
CB: Vincent Kompany – 6/10
The City captain didn’t have much to do during his time on the pitch. The Belgian fell victim to an injury within the first quarter of the game.
CB: Nicolas Otamendi – 8/10
The Argentine centre-back was once again superb at the heart of the defence. He bailed out his team-mate Walker when Aarons pounced on a defensive mistake and his goal-bound chip was cleared off the line by Otamendi who was under severe pressure. The veteran defender denied Newcastle an equaliser in the first half which ultimately helped his team secure the three points.
LB: Danilo – 7/10
A strong performance at left-back by the Brazilian full-back. He was an outlet on the left flank and made quite a number of overlapping runs to provide City with enough width to open up the Magpies defence.
CM: Fernandinho – 7/10
He started off in the midfield and then switched to centre-back following Kompany’s injury. The Brazilain didn’t have much to deal with defensively until the final quarter of the game. He did enough to secure a clean sheet which ensured the points for the Manchester club.
CM: Kevin De Bruyne – 8/10
The Belgian was superb with his range of passing. His through ball to Sterling for the City goal was perfectly measured and a thing of beauty! However, he had a difficult time finishing off chances with his left foot which would disappoint the midfielder.
CM: İlkay Gündoğan – 6/10
He quietly had a good game and linked up with his teammates well in the absence of David Silva.
LW: Raheem Sterling – 8/10
The English winger yet again scored the winner for his team with a clever finish in the first half from close range. He has slowly become the most lethal and consistent threat in the City attack.
RW: Bernardo Silva – 6/10
He failed to create enough chances in the final third but passed the ball well on the right flank.
ST: Sergio Aguero – 6/10
The Argentine was unlucky not to score on the night but was a constant threat to the Magpies backline.
Substitutes:
ST: Gabriel Jesus – 7/10
He came on in place of Kompany and was excellent in the way he created space for his team-mates to exploit. The Newcastle defence had a hard time dealing with the striker.
RW: Leroy Sane – N/A
He hardly had any time to make an impact in the game.
CB: Eliaquim Mangala – 6/10
The French defender was subbed on to make the points secure and he did exactly that by halting the late Newcastle charge.
