Newcastle vs Manchester City preview, prediction, team news and head-to-head

• Both teams to score

• Over 2.5 goals

• Manchester City to win

For the fifth time running, Newcastle are facing Manchester City this season and there’s the possibility of a sixth as they are on opposite sides of the Champions League draw.

The Magpies have had mixed success against the Citizens at St James’ Park, winning 2-1 in the Premier League in November before suffering a 5-1 aggregate defeat to Man City in the semi-finals. They then followed this by losing 2-1 at the Etihad in their most recent Premier League meeting with the Citizens a fortnight ago.

The Magpies, however, did beat Manchester United with ten-men on Wednesday night to build some confidence as they seek to complete a unique double.

Unlike Newcastle, Man City dropped points in the Premier League on Wednesday, as they were forced to play out a 2-2 home draw with Nottingham Forest, who had City-linked Elliot Anderson to thank for scoring a 76th-minute equaliser.

Pep Guardiola’s title chasers have fallen seven points adrift of leaders Arsenal. And although the Citizens do have a game in hand, this gameweek could mark the moment when momentum and belief turns back in favour of Mikel Arteta’s side

Manchester City have won three of their last four meetings, including both legs of their Carabao Cup semi-final, but Newcastle did win the home league game earlier in the campaign.

City could become just the third team to eliminate Newcastle from both the EFL Cup and FA Cup in the same season since Wimbledon in 1987-88 and Arsenal in 2007-08. However, it is worth noting that the Magpies have progressed from nine of their last 10 FA Cup fifth-round ties, with two of those triumphs coming against the Citizens in 1994-95 and 2001-02.

Newcastle will be without the suspended Ramsey this weekend. Bruno Guimaraes (hamstring), Fabian Schar (ankle), Emil Krafth (knee) and Lewis Miley (thigh) all remain sidelined with injuries. This game may also come too soon for Tino Livramento (hamstring).

Sandro Tonali has played 90 minutes in each of the last six games and will have his fitness assessed, while Nick Woltemade "should be okay" to return after missing the midweek win over Man United through illness.

As for Manchester City, Josko Gvardiol (tibial fracture) and Mateo Kovacic (ankle/heel) both remain sidelined through injury, while Nico O'Reilly missed the draw with Forest after sustaining a knock to his ankle in the win at Leeds last weekend.

However, he "felt better" on Thursday and will be assessed further before kickoff. 

Considering that Man City travel to Real Madrid in the Champions League next week, rotation in a few positions could be on the cards for Guardiola this weekend, with James Trafford, Abdukodir Khusanov, John Stones and Rico Lewis among those in contention to earn a recall.

Nico Gonzalez, Tijjani Reijnders, Jeremy Doku, Savinho and Omar Marmoush will also be looking to return to the first XI, with Guardiola to weigh up whether to stick with the likes of in-form Antoine Semenyo and Erling Haaland in his lineup, the latter of whom played the full 90 minutes in midweek after recovering from a “little injury".

Newcastle: Pope; Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn; Willock, Tonali, Joelinton; Elanga, Gordon, Barnes

Manchester City: Trafford; Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, Ait-Nouri; Lewis, Gonzalez; Bernardo, Cherki; Semenyo, Marmoush

Both teams will back themselves to produce the performance required to prevail and reach the quarter-finals this weekend, although much may depend on whether Howe and Guardiola opt to name strong lineups or rest key players with other competitions in mind.

Nevertheless, an entertaining contest between two competitive teams is expected and Man City may just have enough to beat Newcastle, albeit by a slender margin, for the fourth time in 2026.

Correct score prediction: Newcastle 1-2 Manchester City