PREVIEW: Manchester City seek to go within two points of Arsenal with win over Newcastle | OneFootball

Manchester City have the chance to close the gap to Premier League leaders Arsenal to just two points if they beat Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium.

With the Gunners travelling to north London rivals Tottenham on Sunday and still having to face a trip to the Etihad in April, much hinges on how Pep Guardiola’s side perform.

The Magpies poor record away at City, having failed to win at all of their past 20 attempts, will only give the 10-time champions the confidence required to get over the line.

As for the hosts, City have lost just two of their last 22 matches in all competitions, including two wins over Newcastle in both legs of their Carabo Cup semi-final tie.

During Guardiola’s reign, City have often found form towards the business end of seasons past and have been rewarded with silverware as as a result – winning six of the last eight top flight titles.

While this iteration is noticeably different in terms of personnel and tactically, they still possess a number of serial winners in their ranks: Bernardo Silva, Gianluigi Donnarumma, and Ruben Dias to name just a few.

In the aforementioned Carabao Cup clash, City were by far the dominant side and deservedly won 2-0 at St. James’ Park in the first leg, followed by a 3-1 victory at home.

These previous triumphs will surely give them confidence they can once again beat the Magpies.

With their squad having enjoyed a full week of training without a midweek game, they will be rested for this fixture and could afford to rotate their side in their FA Cup fourth round outing against Salford City, where they met expectations in coasting to a 2-0 win.

This, combined with Newcaste’s form away from home leaving much to be desired, may well point to a relatively easy afternoon for Manchester City.

However, since their loss to Brentford, Newcastle have won three away games on the bounce and look to be rejuvenated on the road.

This weekend marks a test of how far they’ve come on their travels, and while a loss will be far from disastrous a win could embolden Newcastle to make a late push for European football.

However, they will be dealing with the impact of their midweek 5,061-mile trip to Azerbaijan, the longest journey ever undertaken by an English side in the Champions League.

Eddie Howe will also have to deal with the impact of club captain Bruno Guimaraes’ continued absence, as his side have never won a Premier League game that he has missed since his arrival.

But with the improved form of Jacob Ramsey, there is hope that the effect of the Brazilian’s injury may be minimal.

The clash will kick-off at 20:00 (GMT) this Sunday, with live coverage available on TNT Sports 1.