Isak will likely lead Newcastle’s attack against Man City. — Reuters
THERE are a couple of humdingers lined up in the Premier League this weekend.
Manchester City’s visit to Newcastle tops the bill, and Tottenham Hotspur’s trip to Manchester United comes in a close second.
Given the results of last weekend and how the fixtures unfolded, this round of matches looks equally intriguing.
Playing at home, the Magpies will be keen on erasing that somewhat surprising defeat at the hands of Fulham last Saturday and give Man City a real good workout – similar to Arsenal’s exploits.
But regardless of what route Eddie Howe will lead his side on, they can expect a difficult tactical encounter with Pep Guardiola’s side, which some say is the best around.
City have lost the services of Rodri to a long-term injury sustained in the clash with the Gunners last weekend.
Notwithstanding this, the Citizens will remain a difficult outfit to beat and are still favourites to win the league in May, which would be a record fifth in a row for Man City.
They beat Watford 2-1 in the Carabao League Cup in midweek. And while the scoreline might suggest that they laboured against the Championship Division club, City had more than enough in reserve.
Against Newcastle, one feels that they should prevail as well, and with a better aggregate score. Mostly, this would be because Guardiola will almost surely bring back into the starting lineup a number of his first-team regulars.
This should include Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva.
Newcastle got an extra few days’ off to recover after their Carabao Cup third round match with AFC Wimbledon was rescheduled in the wake of flooding at Cherry Red Records Stadium.
In the main, Howe will turn to Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak to deliver up front and hope that City don’t get their way with his defence.
The Magpies are generally a tough side to crack at home, and the noises from St James’ Park in the early kick-off today should certainly help propel Howe’s charges to some sort of creditability.
Some have weighed into Man City over the loss of Rodri, lessening their chances of triumph.
But if truth be told and Kovacic and Gundogan step up, the Spanish midfielder’s absence might not be felt so sorely after all.
Man United’s game with Spurs also promises much needle. The underperforming home team will do well to beat Tottenham, but that seems unlikely, given the frailty of Erik ten Hag’s side.
If there is one thing going for Man United, it would be that Spurs are downright erratic. One never knows if they arrive in the mood to play or not.
Against Brentford, they were sharp, and if their Australian boss Ange Postecoglou can prod them into another performance like that, they might yet give Man United something to think about.
Striker Dominic Solanke got his first goal for the club after his big money move in the off-season.
With Brennan Johnson and James Maddison finding their marks alongside the £55mil signing from Bournemouth, Spurs rattled in three against Brentford to chalk up their biggest win so far this season.
Anything close to that sort of form should give the Old Trafford faithful some tense moments in the late game tomorrow.
One feels that if the home side fails to win outright, ten Hag will face further ridicule and come under even more pressure.
The same will be said of his senior players – paid some of the best wages in world football but delivered next to nothing for it.
In Man City’s case, it is different. They’re also highly paid but have loads of silverware stacked up on the mantlepiece.
Newcastle, who are also aspiring to get to those lofty levels of the Citizens, could maybe show Man United a thing or two themselves, at the expense of England’s mighty champions.
In our other featured match, much-improved Chelsea take on Brighton at Stamford Bridge – another match that could set off heaps of fireworks this weekend.
