Premier League Stats
We're well ahead in the Head-to-Head stats, having faced them a total of 41 times in the Premier League, we have managed to win 25 of those. They have won eight times, same as the no. of draws between the two sides.
We have not lost to them in any of the last five Recent Meetings, winning four of them. And no one needs reminding that Sergio loves scoring against them.
The Form Guide and Season So Far stats both show how well Newcastle has done, especially recently to pull away from that relegation threat and are now almost safe.
Before & After
They have an extra day over us on both sides of this tie ... but then the six days we ourselves have in the lead up to this game is unheard of in the way our schedule has been all season. Plus all the focus for us from now onwards won't be on this game or the one after but all the way to that big one on 29th May.
Here are the two sides' before and after games:
Newcastle United
Fri 7 - 8:00pm - Leicester (A) - PL
Fri 14 - 8:00pm - City (H) - PL
Wed 19 - 6:00pm - Sheffield Utd (H) - PL
Manchester City
Sat 8 - 5:30pm - Chelsea (H) - PL
Fri 14 - 8:00pm - Newcastle (A) - PL
Tue 18 - 7:00pm - Brighton (A) - PL
A Dead Rubber?
While we have dropped points against Chelsea today I still think in all likelihood that we'd still be Champions BEFORE we play this next game against Newcastle ... the reason is that second place team in the league play three times (yes, THREE) over a five day span between now and before we play against Newcastle on Friday ... and there is no way they're winning all three of those ... these are the games they have coming up this week:
Manchester United
Sun 9 - 2:05pm - Aston Villa (A) - PL
Tue 11 - 6:00pm - Leicester City (H) - PL
Thu 13 - 8:15pm - Liverpool (H) - PL
Newcastle United shocked Leicester City last night just like they had done West Ham United a few weeks ago and beating those two top-four contenders has all but moved them well and truly away from that relegation threat. This game will be all but a dead-rubber for both sides, us having won the league (by the virtue of United dropping points) and them having secured their Premier League status for next season.
The only things to look forward to then are ... an unusual Friday Night slot for us this time, keeping an eye on how Pep keeps all our players involved in the lead up to that Champions League Final, not overdoing anything and avoiding injuries, Aguero's last few farewell games and seeing what other records he can match/break (closest being most goals for one club in the Premier League; he's just one shy of equalling Rooney's goals for United) ... and of course that first guard of honour for the new champions!
Oh well, if United doesn't drop points during the week, we'd have a chance do it ourselves in this game then.
Match Prediction
Aguero hat-trick incoming ... to make up for that shocking penalty today, and he just always does score against Newcastle.
Newcastle United 0 - 4 Manchester City