Man City vs Newcastle LIVE: Premier League result and reaction as Julian Alvarez scores winner
Manchester City 1-0 Newcastle: Julian Alvarez’s first-half goal proves enough for City to grab a second win to start the season
Julian Alvarez’s fine first-half strike handed Manchester City a hard-fought 1-0 win over Newcastle United in their first home match since winning the treble.
The World Cup winner curled a shot into the top corner after 31 minutes of a tight Premier League encounter at the Etihad Stadium and it proved enough for the champions to claim all three points.
Newcastle, buoyed by thrashing Aston Villa 5-1 in their season opener last week, had travelled in hope of claiming their first league win at City for almost 23 years. Yet the hosts, despite making just two changes following their draining European Super Cup venture in Athens in midweek, were too strong and successfully nullified Eddie Howe’s side.
Pep Guardiola’s men were far from their fluid best, but they produced a professional performance to follow up their opening win at Burnley and in Alvarez and Phil Foden they had the brightest players on the pitch.
Relive the action from the Premier League match below.
Man City 1-0 Newcastle
55 mins: A double Newcastle sub. Unsurprisingly, Anthony Gordon, walking that yellow card tightrope, is subbed off for Harvey Barnes, while Sean Longstaff is on for Joelinton - who appeared to hurt himself while fouling Foden in that last passage of play.
Barnes did score off the bench last week and the Magpies wouldn’t mind the same here.
Man City 1-0 Newcastle
53 mins: This is starting to get a bit tasty! Bodies strewn all over the pitch now!
Joelinton clumsily takes out Phil Foden and gets a yellow card for his troubles. But just before that, Anthony Gordon plays with fire! He’s on a yellow card already and challenges Ruben Dias. He’s a shade late as Dias clears but he gets away with it, referee not interested. On another day, that could have been a second booking.
Man City 1-0 Newcastle
51 mins: A nice ball across the box from the right by Foden but Newcastle deal with it. Alvarez then brought down in the middle of the field but the free-kick comes to nothing.
Man City 1-0 Newcastle
48 mins: A pretty lively start to this second half from Newcastle. An early (optimistic) penalty shout for a foul on Alexander Isak, although the offside flag was up anyway.
They then go straight back on the attack and City forced to hack clear. Gordon then gets a half yard on Walker in the box but he’s going away from goal and his shot is skewed well over.
KICK-OFF! Man City 1-0 Newcastle
45 mins: Back underway at the Etihad
HALF-TIME! Man City 1-0 Newcastle
I think Pep Guardiola enjoyed Julian Alvarez’s opener...
HALF-TIME! Man City 1-0 Newcastle
A solid first half from Man City. They’ve dominated possession and while clear-cut chances haven’t exactly been abundant, they lead through Julian Alvarez’s curled finish.
Work to do for Newcastle after the break.
Man City 1-0 Newcastle
45+2 mins: Great ball into the box from Trippier out on the right causes consternation in the City defence. Gordon has a bit of space at the back stick but tries to control it, rather than striking the ball first time, allowing City to scramble away.
Gordon has to hit that on the volley there, surely?
Man City 1-0 Newcastle
45+1 mins: Into three minutes of added time as we drift towards half-time.
Man City 1-0 Newcastle
43 mins: Good work by Walker to start the move, worked out to the left where Grealish gets to the by-line and wins a corner.
Decent ball to the back post where Rodri wins the header but Newcastle clear.
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