Harvey Barnes inspires Newcastle United to huge win over Manchester City at St James' Park
Newcastle United and Manchester City put on one hell of a show under the lights at St James' Park on Saturday evening.
Both sides were full of attacking flair, but while Man City were wasteful in front of goal, Newcastle came up against a goalkeeper in inspired form in Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The Italian keeper made three superb saves from Nick Woltemade, although if we are being incredibly critical, we'd say that the German could have done better with each effort, with every one heading almost straight for the Italian.
Harvey Barnes missed an absolute sitter in the first half, although we expect it would have been ruled out for offside had he scored anyway. At least that's how we chose to cope with it.
Sky Sports were desperate to give Man City a penalty today
Phil Foden missed a couple of golden opportunities for City, too, and Sky Sports Manchester were adamant that they should have had a penalty for a handball or perhaps for Fabian Schar's challenge on Foden during one of his spooned efforts. We think the ref got each decision spot on.
Despite missing the easiest chance of the game in the first half, Harvey Barnes didn't let his head drop, and he managed to convert perhaps the hardest chance of the game so far, slotting beyond Donnarumma from the edge of the area to give the Magpies a 1-0 lead.
That joy was short-lived, however, as Ruben Dias once again popped up with a goal against Newcastle to draw City level just five minutes later, firing through a crowded box, through the legs of Fabian Schar and beyond Nick Pope.
Who was your Player of the Match against Man City?
Newcastle United sent out a big message to the Premier League today
Newcastle took just two minutes to respond to that setback, however, and Harvey Barnes bundled home a Bruno Guimaraes knock-back into the roof of the net to restore Newcastle's lead.
A nearly five-minute VAR check followed the goal as they checked three phases of the build-up for offside, but the goal was eventually given.
Newcastle defended like beavers for the remainder of the game, which saw the ref add on eight additional minutes, but the lads held firm and sent out a huge message to the Premier League ... We are still a force!
