It is seemingly mission impossible, but Rafa Benitez is desperately trying to save Newcastle from relegation. The 3-0 win at the weekend against Swansea, a first for the Spaniard since moving to the Tyne club, has certainly helped their cause and could prove to be an invaluable three points. Despite that impressive victory on Saturday, there is still plenty of work to be done and Benitez’ men cannot afford to drop points here, which could make this game rather more tough than the table would suggest for Man City.
Inspired by qualifying for the Champions League semi-finals, Manchester City will now be trying to secure their place in the top 4 domestically. Man United and West Ham are hot on their tails, so the game against Newcastle is certainly not the time to play in a slipshod manner. City must perform at the highest level, just as they did against PSG, and with Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne in the squad this is definitely possible. Although things could be a little different if Manuel Pellegrini decides to rest some of his top players considering both the upcoming schedule and the fact that they’ve only been afforded two days rest since defeating Chelsea on Sunday.
Vincent Kompany is still injured, so there is definitely hope for Newcastle in an attacking sense, especially since they have scored at least one goal in four out of five games under Benitez. City have found the net at least once in each of their last 5 fixtures, so, all things considered, we can expect the match to end having seen a combination of both teams to score and over 2.5 total goals.