Alan Shearer makes a big claim as he predicts the outcome of Newcastle v Manchester City

Pundits doing their score predictions for Newcastle United v Manchester City have so far been less than kind to the Magpies.

Both Paul Merson and Chris Sutton have predicted a heavy defeat for Eddie Howe's men in 12:30pm kick-off on Saturday.

Given how Newcastle have played this season and the drubbing they received at Craven Cottage last week, it's not hard to see how they've come to this decision, but Man City weren't at their best last week when they faced their title challengers, Arsenal.

Losing Rodri for the season and having Kevin de Bruyne missing could also give hope to Newcastle heading into the game tomorrow.

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Alan Shearer thinks Newcastle can get something out of the game tomorrow

Alan Shearer has predicted the outcome of the game for Metro and he's been a bit more hopeful that Newcastle will get something from the game.

“Over the years, we’ve seen some blockbuster games between Newcastle and City at St James’ Park and I’m expecting the same again for a couple of reasons.

“Having said that, Man City can still hurt you with the players they have. It’ll be a really tough game. City will still be favourites for the title and favourites for this game but it’ll be a really good atmosphere and Newcastle will have to feed off that.

“When you’re as poor as they were against Fulham, you have a right to respond and they have to respond in the right way because, prior to last week, without playing well, they were getting results.

“So the match against Fulham was a bit of an eye-opener and a reminder of who and what Newcastle are. So many games last year and the year before, Newcastle’s identity was about pressing teams, being aggressive, putting teams under huge pressure with energy and determination.

“We haven’t seen that yet this season so they have to get that back into their game. If they can do that on Saturday, then it’ll be really tough for Man City. I’m going to go for a draw.”

Newcastle are capable of getting a result against Man City

Taking a point of Manchester City is not beyond the realms of possibility for Newcastle who have given Pep Guardiola a good game each time the clubs have met in the Eddie Howe era.

Newcastle have a point to prove after last week's embarrassing result and thanks to the postponement of their Carabao Cup tie in midweek, Eddie Howe has had a couple of extra days to run the players through their drills in training.

A good result, or even a good performance could kickstart Newcastle's season tomorrow and banish all the worry over recent sub-par outings.