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 vs Newcastle
Minutes away from kick-off now. Warm-ups complete
Man City vs Newcastle
Not long until kick-off now at the Etihad. Are City slightly vulnerable against an in-form Newcastle and coming off a busy week?
History is certainly not on the Magpies’ side...
Newcastle have never won in 18 Premier League games at the Etihad, drawing two and losing 16. Their last victory away at Man City came at Maine Road back in September 2000 with Alan Shearer scoring the only goal of the game.
Man City have lost just one of their last 31 Premier League games against Newcastle and that defeat was a 2-1 loss at St James’ Park in January 2019.
Man City have won all of their last 14 home games against Newcastle – making it the longest winning home run and Newcastle’s longest losing away run against specific opposition in the club’s league histories.
Manchester City would be ‘killed’ if we spent like Chelsea have – Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola has claimed Manchester City would be “killed” if they spent the sort of sums being coughed up by Chelsea over the last 12 months.
City’s spending has long been scrutinised since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2008, with the club still facing 115 Premier League charges for alleged breaches of financial regulations.
But Guardiola insisted their approach had always been prudent, in contrast to that taken by Todd Boehly’s ownership group at Stamford Bridge, where the arrival of former City academy star Romeo Lavia this week had taken spending to nearly £1bn since the start of last summer.
Manchester City would be ‘killed’ if we spent like Chelsea have – Pep Guardiola
City’s spending has long been scrutinised since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2008.
Manchester City’s Super Cup victory shows that Cole Palmer is a gem to be treasured
First Istanbul, then Athens. Manchester City have bookended their summer by going from east Manchester to eastern Europe and returning with continental trophies. They added the Super Cup to the Champions League, their fourth piece of silverware of 2023, when Sevilla’s Nemanja Gudelj missed a penalty.
Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Mateo Kovacic, Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker – the captain, a particularly rare penalty taker, breathed a sigh of relief when his effort squeezed under Bono – found the net in an increasingly tense shootout. There was outstanding goalkeeping in the preceding 90 minutes but neither Ederson nor Bono made a save thereafter and when Gudelj’s spot kick was a fraction high, the City celebrations began.
If Ederson was one who starred for a depleted City side, so did Cole Palmer, the youngster developing a taste for the big occasion. In two August finals, Palmer has scored two excellent goals, a Community Shield strike and a Super Cup equaliser; only Michael Owen had previously done the double of scoring in each in the same season. Each goal may have been a blow to the clubs hoping to take Palmer on loan: he is staking a case to be involved at the Etihad Stadium more often. Scorer of the Champions League final winner, Rodri, added a Super Cup assist with a deep cross. Palmer stole in at the far post to head back across goal and, buoyed by his goal, he sought a winner with a shot Bono parried, one which followed an audacious drag-back.
Richard Jolly reflects on a first trophy of the season for City:
Manchester City’s Super Cup victory shows that Cole Palmer is a gem to be treasured
Manchester City 1-1 Sevilla (5-4 pens): Nemanja Gudelj missed the decisive penalty as City won the Uefa Super Cup
Kevin De Bruyne facing up to four months out and may require surgery
Pep Guardiola says Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne faces up to four months out and could require surgery on a hamstring injury.
The 32-year-old was forced off in the first half of June’s Champions League final triumph against Inter Milan and did not play a single minute of pre-season.
De Bruyne returned from that hamstring issue as a second-half substitute in the Community Shield shoot-out loss to Arsenal and captained the side against Burnley in Friday’s Premier League opener.
But the Belgium playmaker only lasted 23 minutes at Turf Moor, where seemingly out of nothing he signalled to the bench that he had felt something.
Kevin De Bruyne facing up to four months out and may require surgery
The Belgium playmaker only lasted 23 minutes of the season opener at Turf Moor.
A predictable start to the Premier League season sees Erling Haaland pick up where he left off
After a summer bursting with unexpected plot lines, a familiar story emerges. As a host of intriguing new characters are added to the cast list, the main man reasserted his dominance. As the Premier League returned, so did Erling Haaland. Perhaps it was the most crushingly predictable start to a season imaginable. For now, Manchester City are top of the table and Haaland is the top scorer. Fast forward nine months and each statement may remain true.
There was, though, something devastatingly awesome amid the sense of the normal. Haaland’s defence of his Golden Boot began within 185 seconds of the opening whistle. He is a fine first-time finisher, but this was a different kind of first touch: his first of the top-flight campaign entered the Burnley net. His second goal arrived before half-time – a goal with a devastating blend of power and accuracy. None of which spared him an animated tongue-lashing from head coach Pep Guardiola as they made their way off at half-time but, along with a Rodri goal, it proved too much for Burnley.
Champions of the Championship lost to champions of the Premier League and, indeed, Europe. None of which may surprise Burnley coach Vincent Kompany – the man with a statue outside the Etihad Stadium was a regular visitor to the ground last season – or the Turf Moor faithful. There are one-sided rivalries and then there is Burnley against City: Guardiola’s 12th consecutive win against the Clarets took the aggregate score in that time to 43-1.
City opened up their Premier League title defence in style:
A predictable start to the season sees Erling Haaland pick up where he left off
Burnley 0-3 Manchester City: Rodri also got on the scoresheet but Haaland stole the show as City started their campaign with a win
Sandro Tonali inspires Newcastle to stunning Premier League start in Aston Villa thrashing
Sandro Tonali paid off the first instalment of his £52m transfer fee as he marked a fine debut with his first goal and inspired Newcastle to a 5-1 drubbing of Aston Villa.
The 23-year-old Italy international opened the scoring just six minutes into his first competitive appearance for the Magpies and had a hand in two more of their goals as Alexander Isak helped himself to a double and substitutes Callum Wilson and Harvey Barnes struck late on after Moussa Diaby, also making his bow in England’s top flight, had levelled.
Here’s how the Magpies started the season with a bang:
Sandro Tonali inspires Newcastle to stunning Premier League start
Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes scored on their Newcastle debut before Alexander Isak’s brace and Callum Wilson wrapped up the three points.
Man City vs Newcastle team news
Ok, so what have we learned from that team news?
As expected, Newcastle are unchanged from their opening-day win, so the likes of Callum Wilson and Joe Willock will provide firepower from the bench.
Meanwhile for City, Ruben Dias is passed fit to start at centre-back and Julian Alvarez has recovered from his slight knock to start in the attacking third. John Stones and Bernardo Silva haven’t recovered in time to feature though
Confirmed line-ups
Man City XI: Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri, Kovacic; Foden, Alvarez, Grealish; Haaland
Newcastle XI: Pope; Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn; Tonali, Guimaraes, Joelinton; Almiron, Isak, Gordon.
When is Man City vs Newcastle and how can I watch it?
When is Man City vs Newcastle?
Manchester City vs Newcastle is due to kick-off at 8pm on Saturday 19 August at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.
How can I watch it?
Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the match live on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate, with coverage on the channels – from which BT Sport was rebranded over the summer – from 7pm.
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