Analysing Newcastle ahead of Saturday’s Premier League clash | OneFootball

Taking an in-depth look at our opponents this Saturday…

Match Preview

Newcastle United v City: Kick-off time, team news and TV information

We head to St James’ Park for a 17:30 (UK) kick-off against Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United.

After the final international break of 2025, it’s all eyes on club football for the next few months in a pivotal run of games.

City v Leverkusen | Buy your tickets here

The Blues are second in the Premier League, with 22 points from 11 games, trailing leaders Arsenal by four points.

Newcastle have had a mixed start to the campaign, with fortunes much better in the Champions League than domestically thus far.

With the help of Opta data, we take a closer look at them…

Recent form

Newcastle have yet to fully hit their straps in the Premier League, winning three, drawing three and losing five so far.

That has left them 14th as the table starts to take shape. With 12 points thus far, they’re still only six points off fifth place, so it can all turn around very quickly for the Magpies.

Men's Team

How can I watch Newcastle v City on TV?

And they’ve shown in the Champions League they have the talent to make it happen, winning three of their four games up until now and sitting in sixth.

The concern on Tyneside will be how they struggled to juggle the two competitions back in 2023/24.

They’ve opened the scoring in their last two league defeats and have never lost three games in a row after taking the lead in each of them.

Preferred formation

It’s 4-3-3 or bust for Newcastle since Eddie Howe’s move to the north east.

They’ve had a rotated back four throughout much of the season so far, with full-backs like Dan Burn and Kieran Trippier tasked with contributing higher up the pitch.

Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Joelinton are the preferred midfield three when all are fit and available, with the trio taking it in turns to attack and sit deeper depending on the state of the game.

Nick Woltemade has been undisputed first choice up top, with any of Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes, Jacob Murphy and Anthony Elanga to flank him.

Summer activity

The departure of Alexander Isak was a long-running saga that dominated much of the summer from Newcastle’s perspective.

They filled that gap with Woltemade and Brentford’s Yoane Wissa, although the latter’s injury issues have meant he is yet to kick a ball in anger for them.

Elanga and Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsey were other addition in attacking areas, shining previously as winger and advanced midfielders respectively.

Further back, central defender Malick Thiaw was signed from AC Milan and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale joined on loan from relegated Southampton.

Manager

Eddie Howe is widely regarded as one of the Premier League’s best coaches, with a long track record of improving players on the training ground.

He guided Bournemouth from the fourth tier all the way to the Premier League over two spells before taking the job at St James’.

And there’s no doubt he’s been a success in the north east, qualifying for the Champions League twice and winning the first major trophy since 1955 with last season’s Carabao Cup.

He doesn’t have fond memories of coming up against us though, having won none of his 18 Premier League meetings with City – losing 16 and drawing twice. It’s the most a manager has faced an opponent in the competition without ever winning.

Head-to-head record

We have lost just one of our last 35 Premier League meetings with Newcastle United – a 2-1 defeat in January 2019.

Our 12 wins at St James’ Park is the joint-most we’ve won at an away ground in the Premier League, tied with Everton.

Of the 50 Premier League games in total we’ve played, City have won 32 and scored 106 goals, conceding just 46.

How they score their goals

Newcastle’s 11 goals so far is only more than three other teams – Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Leeds, who sit 20th, 19th and 16th respectively.

They have created an xG of 13.2, which is the 12th best across the division – so they could be slightly higher had they taken their chances.

That continues to ring true when you see they have taken only 30% of their Opta-defined ‘big chances’, which is the 17th best in the division and have hit the woodwork four times, with only three teams doing so more.

Newcastle also need more players to chip in with the goalscoring. Only five players have netted in the league so far, which is the fewest of any team.

While City are quick starters, scoring more than anyone else in the first 15 minutes, Newcastle are good at the end of the game, scoring four times in the final 15 minutes.

In terms of possession and creating chances, Newcastle are slap bang in the middle of the league for passes per match, with an average of 432, but they are third for number of crosses so far, sending 178 into the box.

All three of Nick Woltemade’s non-penalty goals for Newcastle this season have been from first time shots – only Jean-Philippe Mateta (4) has scored more with 100% of them coming from first time shots.

How they defend

City have scored more goals and completed more passes than anyone else, while sending the fewest crosses into the box.

That obviously makes our attack something Newcastle will have to make a plan for.

However, they’re behind only Arsenal and City in terms of xG conceded – standing at 11.4.

That’s come through preventing shots, with only 118 on their goal so far – the fifth best in the Premier League.

As they tend to score more later on, they’re also susceptible at the back, conceding 10 of their 14 after the break.

Newcastle v city app coverage

Our official Man City app allows you to follow all of the action in one place.

Minute-by-minute text updates will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, while our Matchday Live show will begin at around 16:15 (UK).

Steve Howey and Rob Lee will join Natalie Pike as the former players offer their expert insight before, during and after the action.

During the game you can also listen to live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Michael Brown, while our text commentary continues.

Make sure to have push notifications turned on, so you can be alerted to key moments in the action, including goals, red cards and the team news.

A quick-hit 2-minute highlights package will be available from 20:00 (UK) while you can sign-in to watch a free 8-minute edit from midnight.

Meanwhile on CITY+, from midnight there’ll be our popular full-match replay as well as our new extended highlights reel showing the best 20 minutes of action from the game.