Newcastle 2 Manchester City 1 and as Sally said when she met Harry: “Yes, Yes, Yes!” | OneFootball

Newcastle 2 Manchester City 1 – Saturday 22 November 2025 5.30pm

A fantastic, fighting performance by Newcastle United confounded expectations at St James’ Park and secured all three points against a club we had not defeated in the Premier League since Rafa Benitez was in charge.

In the first half we went toe to toe with England’s form team, pass masters and perennial champions.

Barnes could have scored in the opening minute, BNW was foiled twice by good saves, then Barnes missed the easiest chance of all. In between, Man City wasted three big opportunities.

The return of Hall and Livramento for Burn and Trippier boosted our creativity and energy massively.

Could we continue to play with intensity and guile in the second half while adding the precision finish to beat Donnarumma?

To quote Sally when she was faking it with Harry: “YES, YES, YES!” Barnes buried a low shot from the edge of the box after a superb one-two with Bruno G.

The ecstasy lasted only a few minutes, of course, until we conceded a scrappy equaliser from a corner.

Back we came and seemed to have retaken the lead almost immediately, again through a sublime Barnes finish after more good work by Bruno. An agonising VAR wait ended with the referee confirming the joyous news. “YES, YES, YES!” There were apparently three possible infringements that were pored over by the team at Stockley Park.

The visitors responded with three substitutes and we went to five at the back. Murphy retreated to replace the exhausted Hall while Botman joined the action. Late on, Barnes and BNW were replaced by Elanga and Willock.

Marmoush, once a hat-trick scorer against us, arrived on 85 minutes but had no impact. Neither did Savinho, who had come on for Doku, a player with great ability but a dreadful habit of throwing himself to the ground.

Joelinton collected an inevitable booking to halt a quick break. Still United held out under intense pressure. Pope was not severely tested because the 10 teammates around him defended superbly.

There was no man of the match . . . every player in black-and-white stripes was a hero.

There should, however, be a special mention for the fit-again Livramento, who ran and ran for 100-plus minutes. Doku has ripped apart many defenders but he had almost no joy against our fit-again full-back.

Newcastle 2 Manchester City 1 – Saturday 22 November 2025 5.30pm

Match Stats

Newcastle United:

Barnes 63, 70

Man City:

Dias 68

Possession was Newcastle 32% Man City 68%

Total shots were Newcastle 9 Man City 17

Shots on target were Newcastle 5 Man City 4

Corners were Newcastle 5 Man City 9

Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 15 Man City 41

Newcastle team v Man City:

Pope, Livramento, Thiaw, Schar, Hall (Botman 77), Bruno, Joelinton, Tonali, Jacob Murphy, Woltemade (Willock 85), Barnes (Elanga 85)

Subs: