Man City vs Newcastle preview, team news, kick-off, prediction

Team news and stats ahead of Man City vs Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday; kick-off 8pm.

Team news

Manchester City will be without Gabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker for the Boxing Day visit of Newcastle in the Premier League after the duo tested positive for coronavirus.

Defender Eric Garcia, who continues to be linked with a move to Barcelona, is also absent with a leg injury.

Record goalscorer Sergio Aguero, who is being eased back into action after a knee problem, could be in contention to start in Jesus' absence, after a 16-minute run-out in the Carabao Cup in midweek.

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Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles and winger Allan Saint-Maximin are still missing as they continue to recover from Covid-19.

Federico Fernandez could be available after missing the midweek cup defeat at Brentford through muscle fatigue.

Goalkeeper Martin Dubravka is close to returning from a heel injury.

How to follow

Follow Manchester City vs Newcastle in our dedicated live match blog. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.

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Jones Knows Prediction

You feel Pep Guardiola is picking and choosing when to play with City's usual attacking zest and when to rein it in.

The win at Southampton, where they were taking the ball to the corner with five minutes left, certainly felt like a new conservative City. Yet at home against the lesser-ranked teams, City have been more like their old selves in the past month. In wins over Fulham and Burnley and the richly unfortunate draw with West Brom, they have registered 60 shots, 43 of those from inside the box which is the most produced by any team in that period.

Here they face a Newcastle team that have not progressed over the past 12 months. Callum Wilson has added an extra clinical edge but as we saw last season with him, he is unlikely to sustain this form throughout the campaign. Steve Bruce's men have been quite fortunate not to suffer back-to-back home defeats to West Brom and Fulham on the balance of both their games and their midweek defeat to Brentford has not gone down well either.

Did someone order a thrashing?

JONES KNOWS PREDICTS: 5-0 (11/1 with Sky Bet)

Opta stats

• Manchester City have won each of their last 11 Premier League home games against Newcastle, scoring 39 goals and conceding just seven in return. It's the Citizens' longest winning home run against an opponent in their top-flight history.
• Newcastle haven't won any of their last 16 away league games against Man City (D2 L14), last winning such a game against them in September 2000 (1-0). Their current run of 11 straight away defeats against Man City is the longest such losing streak in their league history.
• Manchester City have scored in each of their last 23 Premier League games against Newcastle (61 goals in total) - only Arsenal have had a longer run of scoring in consecutive games against an opponent in the competition (24 vs West Bromwich Albion).
• Manchester City lost their last Boxing Day game in the Premier League, 1-2 against Leicester in 2018. They've not lost consecutive such matches since a run of three between 2003-2005.
• Newcastle have lost each of their last five league Boxing Day games, since a 5-1 win against Stoke in 2013. Indeed, in the Premier League the Magpies have lost more Boxing Day games (14) and conceded more Boxing Day goals (42) than any other side in the competition.
• Manchester City's 19 goals in 13 Premier League games this season is their lowest goals-per-game ratio in the competition (1.46) since 2007-08 (1.18). It's also manager Pep Guardiola's lowest such ratio in his top-flight managerial career.
• Sergio Aguero's 15 Premier League goals for Man City against Newcastle is the most a player has scored for a single team against a specific opponent in the competition's history.

Pitch to Post Review: What if Man Utd actually clicked? Plus: Arteta's stats debunked

Manchester United are in contention having barely performed this season - how good could they be if they actually clicked?

In the last Pitch to Post Review of 2020, Jasper Taylor is joined by Gerard Brand and Ben Ransom to discuss Manchester United's chaotic 6-2 win over Leeds, and whether in fact Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side are title contenders (04:12). As for Leeds, we analyse Marcelo Bielsa's unapologetic style, and whether it can last (13:00).

The shambles at Arsenal continues as they are beaten at Everton, and after Mikel Arteta channels his inner Rafa Benitez with a list of statistics, the panel provide some other damning metrics (16:47).

In the Regional Review, Adam Bate discusses West Brom, Aston Villa and Wolves (32:59), and in part four we look at Tottenham's defeat by Leicester as Jose Mourinho was played at his own game to cap off a bad week (42:36).

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