Manchester City vs. Newcastle United: Premier League match preview with team news, predicted lineups, where to watch, score prediction, and more

Eddie Howe takes his Newcastle United side to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening, for an 8 p.m. BST kick-off against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.

The game will be televised on TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) in the UK and Ireland, with the Magpies looking to build on their demolition of Aston Villa last weekend.

Having never won at this venue in the league in 18 attempts, Howe and his players have a chance to end another grisly record. The head coach has made something of a habit of that since arriving at St. James' Park.

Here's all the key information you need ahead of the game, including the latest team news, lineup predictions, ticketing details, quotes from the managers, where you can watch, and more.

What's the latest team news?

There are no changes for Newcastle from last week to this. There weren't even any mysterious absences in the training photographs or video released by the club on Wednesday and Thursday.

Emil Krafth is still out due to his ACL injury and won't play again until October at the earliest, while Joe Willock's hamstring is going to keep him sidelined until at least mid-September.

Javier Manquillo has a groin injury and is expected to leave the club before the end of the transfer window.

Newcastle United Squad

Goalkeepers: Nick Pope, Martin Dúbravka, Loris Karius, Mark Gillespie

Defenders: Kieran Trippier, Tino Livramento, Fabian Schär, Jamaal Lascelles, Sven Botman, Paul Dummett, Dan Burn, Matt Targett, Alex Murphy

Midfielders: Sandro Tonali, Sean Longstaff, Bruno Guimarães, Lewis Miley, Joelinton, Elliot Anderson, Matt Ritchie

Forwards: Miguel Almirón, Jacob Murphy, Alexander Isak, Callum Wilson, Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes

Guardiola is definitely without Kevin De Bruyne (hamstring) and John Stones (also hamstring), while there are doubts over Bernardo Silva (illness) and Julián Álvarez (thigh).

Manchester City Squad

Goalkeepers: Ederson, Stefan Ortega, Zack Steffen, Scott Carson

Defenders: Kyle Walker, Rúben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Aké, Aymeric Laporte, Joško Gvardiol, Rico Lewis, Sergio Gómez

Midfielders: Rodri, Mateo Kovačić, Kalvin Phillips, Máximo Perrone, James McAtee, Bernardo Silva, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish

Forwards: Erling Haaland, Julián Álvarez

How will the teams line up?

We'd be amazed if Howe made any unforced changes here. The same starting XI and substitutes are highly likely to be picked, with the shape being the usual 4-3-3:

Newcastle United (4-3-3)

Starting XI: Pope; Trippier (c), Schär, Botman, Burn; Tonali, Guimarães, Joelinton; Almirón, Isak, Gordon

Substitutes: Dúbravka; Livramento, Lascelles, Targett; Anderson, Longstaff; J. Murphy, Wilson, Barnes

Guardiola went very strong in City's Super Cup win over Sevilla on Wednesday night and he'll pick his best/fittest possible XI here, likely in a 4-2-3-1 shape:

Manchester City (4-2-3-1)

Starting XI: Ederson; Walker (c), Dias, Akanji, Aké; Kovacic, Rodri; Silva (Foden), Álvarez, Grealish; Haaland

Substitutes: Ortega; Laporte, Gvardiol, Lewis; Phillips, Perrone, Foden (Gómez), Palmer, McAtee

Who will referee the game and who is the VAR?

Robert Jones of Merseyside will be the man in the middle. He only took charge of us in games at St. James' last season, overseeing the wins over Chelsea, Fulham, and Brighton.

You may recall the home crowd serenading him with a hearty rendition of "Who's the Scouser in the blue?" after some questionable decisions in that Brighton game, following some controversy about his selection due to his Merseyside base and Liverpool's close proximity to us in the run-in.

Jarredd Gillett is the VAR. Let's hope he keeps our 100% VAR-check record going in 2023/24!

What kits will the sides be wearing?

Manchester City will wear their traditional light blue shirts, white shorts, and light blue socks.

The Magpies should just be in the black and white here, with the away shirt not expected to make its first appearance in a competitive game until our trip to Brighton in two weeks.

What have the managers said about the game?

Howe held his pre-match briefing on Friday morning, with his key comments being:

"I think it consolidated a lot of what I already thought of Manchester City. They are the standard bearers and have been for a long time in the Premier League of where other teams need to get to.

I saw a team hugely motivated to win which is the biggest compliment I can pay the team off the back of winning the treble and everything that brings.

They went into a tough game and were desperate to win. You could see their reactions afterwards so this is a team that will not be complacent. They will be ready for us so we expect a really good game.

We want our players to go there with all the positive emotions that our first game of this season should bring. We’re looking at this game as an opportunity for us to be at our best.

We have to concentrate on Manchester City’s strengths and have to try and stop those but we also have to be ourselves. We want to become a top team, consistently, in the Premier League and I think to do that, we have to have a clear identity ourselves and try to implement that on other teams.

I want a positive mindset, not just for the supporters, but for the players and let’s see what we can do."

Guardiola is yet to hold his pre-match press conference, but he did have a bit of a moan about the scheduling of this game after City's Super Cup success in midweek:

"Tomorrow will be even more happier than today. Recover as much as possible, not one drop of alcohol.

Thank you so much to the Premier League for letting us play on Saturday and not on Sunday and Monday."

Getting his excuses in early, we see...

Are tickets still available?

The game is a complete sell-out and with away ticketing as it is we can't advocate buying second-hand.

If you're out of the loop on that, the club shared some very important guidelines on its new approach to away ticketing yesterday, with random ticket/ID checks set to make a controversial debut at the Etihad.

Where can the game be watched or listened to?

TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) will be televising the game in the UK and Ireland.

talkSport has the national radio rights and BBC Radio Newcastle, as ever, has the local rights.

Internationally, the profile of the game means that it should be available wherever football is shown all around the globe. LiveSoccerTV is always our go-to for international listings.

What's our head-to-head record with Manchester City?

While we are yet to win a league game at the Etihad (18 visits and counting) and haven't even scored in the last four, the overall head-to-head record between the two clubs is fairly balanced:

Played	Won	Drew	Lost	For	Against
188	72	41	75	264	294

City have won 40% of meetings, with Newcastle winning 38%, and just 22% being drawn.

In the league last season, the two teams drew 3-3 in a thriller at St. James' Park thanks to goals from Almirón, Wilson, and Trippier. İlkay Gündoğan (now departed), Haaland, and Silva scored for the visitors.

The game at the Etihad was a more straightforward 2-0 home win thanks to goals from Foden and Silva, though a Newcastle side missing Schär and reeling from the Carabao Cup defeat to Manchester United a week prior gave a canny account of themselves.

What's the official NUFC News score prediction?

We're daring to dream after the opening weekend, though there's no doubt that this is the toughest away fixture on the calendar.

Still, they had to play late on Wednesday night in Greece in the Super Cup, De Bruyne and Stones are definitely out, and Silva, always a thorn in our side, might not be at 100%.

We'll go for a 2-2.