Newcastle v Manchester City: Line-ups, stats and preview

Newcastle and Manchester City meet for the fifth time this season in all competitions, this time in the FA Cup, with a place in the competition’s last eight awaiting the winner.

The Magpies will be looking to avenge a 5-1 aggregate defeat to City in the semi-finals of the EFL Cup and will be buoyed after bringing Manchester United’s unbeaten run under Michael Carrick to an end in midweek despite going down to 10 men.

Pep Guardiola’s men, meanwhile, will be hoping to bounce back after a slip-up in the Premier League title race following a shock 2-2 draw with strugglers Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.

Reflecting on Newcastle’s previous tussles with City this season, Eddie Howe admitted his team had not been ruthless enough in front of goal, and admitted that, at the other end, his team need to be “watertight”.

Howe said: “The games against Man City have all been close. The game we won was close, the games we lost, by and large, have been close and we have had chances against them and haven’t been clinical enough.

“Defensively we need to be watertight and we want it to be a proper FA Cup tie and one of those end-to-end games and the crowd involved and that will suit us.

“The crowd react to us. It is our duty to set the tone, and we did that against Manchester United and were positive in our outlook and energetic.

“They [the fans] helped us get us over the line. We need a ferocious St James’ Park [on Saturday].”

While Guardiola was left “disappointed” by the draw with Forest, the City boss insisted his team “don’t have time to look back, so look forward”.

He insisted City’s success in the FA Cup is testament to how serious he takes the world’s oldest club competition.

“How many finals did we play in the last years? How many semi-finals?” he said.

“A lot, that means always FA Cup is so important.

“We are going to travel to Newcastle to win and get to the next round. That’s definitely 100%.”

Four days after the clash at St James’ Park, City head to Spain to face familiar foe in Real Madrid in the Champions League playoff first leg.

Guardiola said his side were taking it one game at a time, emphasising that his players are “used to playing in a lot of competitions.

“There are a lot of game to play so we have to continue,” he added.

Team news for Newcastle v Manchester City

The hosts could welcome back striker Nick Woltemade to the squad after the German missed the game against Man Utd due to illness. However, Jacob Ramsey is suspended for the tie.

Tino Livramento is unlikely to feature as he continues his recovery from a hamstring problem, while Lewis Miley (thigh), Bruno Guimaraes (hamstring), Fabian Schar (ankle) and Emil Krafth (knee) all remain sidelined.

Sandro Tonali has played every minute of Newcastle’s last six matches so Howe could be tempted to freshen things up in midfield, while the likes of Yoane Wissa, Anthony Elanga, Jacob Murphy and William Osula – who scored a sublime winner against United – are in contention to join Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon in attack.

With one eye on the Bernabeu next week, Guardiola might be tempted to rest a few key personnel for the trip to the north east.

The in-form Antoine Semenyo and Erling Haaland, who played the full 90 minutes in midweek after recovering from a “little injury”, may not be risked, while James Trafford could be called upon to replace Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal.

The City boss said Nico O’Reilly, who missed the Forest game after picking up a knock against Leeds last weekend, was feeling better and could be in line to return.

Josko Gvardiol (tibial fracture) and Mateo Kovacic (ankle/heel) are both still out.

Predicted line-ups for Newcastle v Manchester City

Newcastle starting XI: Pope; Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn; Willock, Tonali, Joelinton; Elanga, Gordon, Barnes

Manchester City starting XI: Trafford; Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, Ait-Nouri; Lewis, Gonzalez; Bernardo, Cherki; Semenyo, Marmoush

Where to watch Newcastle v Manchester City: TV and online streams

Kick-off on Saturday is at 20:00 (15:00 ET / 12:00 PT). Live TV coverage in the UK is on TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports Ultimate and the Discovery Plus app.

TNT Sports costs £29.99 a month through Discovery Plus, which includes Eurosport and entertainment and is available on a vast range of devices including smart TVs and gaming consoles.

Stats for Newcastle v Manchester City

• City could become just the third team to eliminate Newcastle from both the EFL Cup and FA Cup in the same season, after Wimbledon in 1987-88 and Arsenal in 2007-08
• However, the Magpies have progressed from nine of their last 10 FA Cup Fifth Round ties, with two of those triumphs coming against City in 1994-95 and 2001-02
• Guardiola’s men have won 18 of their last 20 matches in the FA Cup across the last four seasons, losing only in the finals in 2024 against Man Utd and 2025 against Crystal Palace
• Newcastle have already beaten two Premier League sides in Bournemouth and Aston Villa to reach this stage of the competition
• City, meanwhile, have benefited from relatively straight-forward ties against lower-league sides Exeter City and Salford City.

Prediction for Newcastle v Manchester City

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