Newcastle United vs Manchester City

St James’ Park hosts a blockbuster League Cup round-three encounter between Newcastle United and Manchester City.

Following a woeful three-game losing Premier League streak, Newcastle United seem to be hitting their stride again, as they followed up a tight 1-0 home win over Brentford with a scintillating 8-0 romping of Sheffield United at the weekend. Those triumphs, combined with a tepid 0-0 draw against AC Milan in their first Champions League outing in over two decades, form part of Newcastle’s three-game run without conceding, which could be instrumental to upsetting the apple cart here. However, the hosts’ barren run against Manchester City stands at a staggering ten games across all competitions (D2, L8) heading into this match, including a narrow 1-0 Premier League defeat at the Etihad Stadium earlier this season.

In the meantime, Manchester City’s quick-fire start saw them bag two unanswered goals past Nottingham Forest inside the first 14 minutes en route to posting a routine 2-0 home win and maintaining their 100% start to their Premier League title defense (W6). City’s last three league wins have yielded multi-goal margins, which was the case in a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over Red Star Belgrade in their opening Champions League fixture a week ago. But the visitors have been prone to sluggish away starts, failing to score before halftime on their last two travels, though they netted 2+ second-half goals on both occasions. That said, Pep Guardiola’s men have scored 2+ goals on five straight visits to St James’ Park since a 2-1 loss in September 2019 (W3, D2).