Newcastle United 1-1 Manchester City: Barclays Premier League - as it happened
Full-time: Newcastle United 1-1 Manchester City
- Sergio Aguero scored the opening goal, his 100th strike in the Premier League.
- Vurnon Anita netted a brilliant equaliser in the first-half.
- Newcastle remain in the relegation zone.
Zabaleta comes to City's rescue, when it appears certain Newcastle will take the lead. Andros Townsend makes a neat break up the right side and chips the ball to the back post where Mitrovic was waiting to head home.
Thankfully for the away side, the Argentine timed his jump perfectly and managed to knock it behind for a corner. Rafa was waiting to celebrate...
City and Sergio Aguero have a huge penalty appeal waved away. The Argentine collected a cross from the right and turned in the box. Just as he loaded up to shoot at goal, he was tackle/fouled - depending on your viewpoint - by a Newcastle defender.
Aguero sits on the ground, staring at the floor. He's not happy with the ref.
Half-time: Newcastle United 1-1 Manchester City
A fascinating 45 minutes of football, that. City took the lead through the in-form Sergio Aguero and appeared to be coasting towards an easy victory in the early stages.
But out of nowhere, the Magpies got an equaliser through Vurnon Anita, who bagged a beautiful solo goal. It's all to play for the second half in this eye-catching contest.
GOAL: Newcastle United 1-1 Manchester City (Anita)
Vurnon Anita has got Newcastle back in this match with a brilliant individual goal. The Dutchman makes a mazy run down the right side. He cuts inside and finds a pinpoint finish which grazes Joe Hart's fingertips and goes in via the post.
St James' Park is bouncing once again!
GOAL: Newcastle United 0-1 Manchester City (Aguero)
The away side lead and unsurprisingly, it is Sergio Aguero with the goal. The in-form Argentine gets his head on a freekick from the left side and the ball races past Darlow and into the net.
That means Sergio has joined the Premier League 100 club.
Kevin de Bruyne has made a lively start to the match, continuing his good form from the weekend, when he excelled against Chelsea.
The Belgian has been central to most of the away side's best work in the opening moments, and City certainly look up for this game in the opening moments. No signs of them resting on their laurels.
Pre-match thoughts...
Manuel Pellegrini: "It is very important [to have Vincent Kompany back]. Important for the team because he is the captain.
"We need to play two more games before the semi-final of the Champions League and the best way to arrive into that is to be playing well. We did so against Chelsea.
"When you have all of your best players playing together it improves the performance. For the moment, we have won the Capital One Cup, are in the top four and are in the Champions League so it is not a bad season."
The teams are out on the pitch going through their last-minute preparations. City, surely, must have one eye on their Champions League tie against Real Madrid.
For Sergio Aguero, though, there is the incentive of scoring his 100th Premier League goal in one of the biggest grounds in the country. He was sensational against Chelsea at the weekend.
For Newcastle, tonight's game is a huge opportunity for them to lift themselves above Norwich in the table.
A win would be a bonus for Rafael Benitez, but anything from this match may transpire to be the difference in their relegation scrap. What's more, they will be cheered on by the vocal home supporters, who are sure to give their team all the backing they could ask for.
City will, of course, be glad to have Kompany back in the ranks. Despite his recent injury problems he remains a reassuring presence in their team.
They'll be pleased, too, that Raheem Sterling is fit enough to make the bench - he might well make an appearance later in the game. We're just over half an hour from kick off at St James' Park.
Breaking team news:
The Newcastle side is in, too. It is as follows:
Newcastle United: Darlow, Anita, Mbema, Lascelles, Dummett, Townsend, Tiote, Colback, Sissoko, Perez, Cisse
Subs: Woodman, Saivet, Shelvey, Wijnaldum, Aarons, De Jong, Mitrovic
That means just one change for the Magpies: Ayoze Perez starts instead of Georginio Wijnaldum.
Breaking team news:
As speculated, Vincent Kompany has been returned to the starting line-up by City boss Manuel Pellegrini. Tonight promises to be a really good test of the Belgian's fitness ahead of the Champions League.
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Mangala, Kompany (C), Kolarov, Fernando, Delph, Toure, Navas, De Bruyne, Aguero
Subs: Caballero, Iheanacho, Bony, Fernandinho, Sterling, Otamendi, Demichelis
In case you missed the news earlier this week, Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed Vincent Kompany and Raheem Sterling are both available for selection after injury.
We'll have to wait to see if either of them are picked by the City boss for tonight's game, in preparation for the tie against Real Madrid. Team news is moments away, so sit tight.
What the manager says:
Rafael Benitez: "I think they have an eye on the Champions League and hopefully we can take advantage. In the back of your head you are thinking about a semi-final or a final and if you are going to get an injury.
"They are professionals and they will try to win but in the back of their mind they won't want to miss a game through injury."
Manuel Pellegrini: "The mathematical reason why we are not challenging for the title is because we lost three games in a row in the beginning of February. I hope we can continue playing the same way we did last Saturday, being an aggressive team and trying to win from the beginning.
"If we continue playing that way it doesn't matter who we play but we know we will have a difficult game. They need all the points to try not to be relegated."
Preview
Just when it seemed like Rafael Benitez's men were destined for the drop, they came to life beating Swansea 3-0 in their last game.
It was only the second clean sheet that Newcastle have managed in their last eighteen outings.
With 28 points from 33 games and five games to go, the Magpies will have to win all their games to avoid relegation.
Good evening and welcome to IBTimes UK's live coverage of this potentially pivotal fixture between relegation-threatened Newcastle United and Manchester City at St James' Park.
These two teams sit at either end of the table, but with Newcastle scrapping for their lives in the Premier League, it promises to be a very interesting encounter.
Can Rafael Benitez's side spring a surprise? Do Manchester City already have their eyes on the Champions League semi-finals? The answer to those questions, as well as the all-important team news, will come your way soon.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.