Newcastle vs. Manchester City: Magpies ‘face tough task’ against Pep’s City

Manchester City travel north to St James’ Park Saturday lunch time looking to close the gap on leaders Liverpool to six points.

After the disappointment of losing to the Reds before the international break Pep’s side came from a goal down against Chelsea last weekend to get back to winning ways.

But despite the victory City were far from their best and were dealt a huge blow as Sergio Aguero limped off with a thigh injury ruling him out of Saturday’s trip to the Toon.

That means Gabriel Jesus is expected to lead the City line and the Brazilian is 3/1 to open the scoring.

Newcastle head into Saturday’s game five points above the drop zone after losing just one of their last four outings. A solid home record has helped ease the pressure on Steve Bruce who seems to be winning over small sections of the St James’ faithful.

A stuttering strike force, though, could prove to be his undoing.

Only Watford have scored fewer goals than the Magpies this season and that’s down to a strike force bereft of confidence.

Joelinton, Almiron and Saint-Maximin have played a combined total of 45 games this season and between them they’ve one solitary goal.

That’s relegation tackle right there.

Nobody will be expecting Newcastle to get anything out of the game. But the same was said last year and of course we all know what happened.

The Magpies stunned Man City with a 2–1 and it’s 45/1 for a repeat scoreline on Saturday.

While Newcastle are struggling for goals, Man City are bagging for fun. Pep’s side average 2.85 goals per game and are 4/5 to score over 2.5 goals.

Newcastle are 16/1 to bag all three points and repeat last season’s heroics, while City are as short as 1/6. The draw is available at 7/1.