Manchester City kick off the 2014-15 Premier League season as champions once again. The well-documented slip of Liverpool at the end of last season allowed City back in to the race, and it ended up with sky blue ribbons on the trophy. Much like last season the league campaign starts against Alan Pardew’s Newcastle United side, albeit at St James’ Park rather than at home.
The opening game of last season in Manchester saw City put four past The Magpies in what was a real statement of intent in Manuel Pellegrini’s first game in charge of The Blues. David Silva, Sergio Agüero, Yaya Touré and Samir Nasri were all on the scoresheet on the opening day, with City looking strong against a weakened (and eventually 10-man) Newcastle team.
The game in the north-east was a very different kettle of fish. City still came away victorious, but it was hard-fought to say the very least. Away games, especially at a tough ground like St James’ Park are always a struggle for City, and Newcastle certainly had a lot more chances than they did in the earlier home game. Cheick Tioté had a goal controversially ruled out for offside at 1-0, and that changed the tone of the game. Edin Džeko had already scored early on before Álvaro Negredo scored in injury time to seal a 2-0 win for The Blues.
After a somewhat poor season for Alan Pardew and Newcastle United last year, they have gone out and signed heavily over the summer, bringing in players like Siem De Jong from Ajax and Remy Cabella. This strengthens The Magpies a lot, although some are still doubting how much potential they have whilst Pardew is still in charge, and whether he is holding them back to a certain degree. They’re almost certain to improve on the 10th-place finish from last season going into the new campaign.
However, Magpies fans will have to wait some time to see some of the new signings in league action. Davide Santon (knee), Papiss Cissé (knee) and Ryan Taylor (ACL) are all missing for the game, whilst Yoan Gouffran is only just making it back in time to play. Alan Pardew confirmed on Friday that Siem De Jong (calf) and Chieck Tioté (hamstring) haven’t recovered in time to play on opening day. Curtis Good (groin) is also missing.
City have much less on their plate to worry about in terms of injuries. The only absentee down to injury is Álvaro Negredo, who fractured his metatarsal in the pre-season friendly against Hearts and is out until late September. With Džeko and Jovetić both having looked good in pre-season, and Agüero being fit, Manuel Pellegrini has more than enough options to replace Negredo with.
Another player who won’t be playing at St. James’ Park is Eliaquim Mangala, City’s latest signing. The defender joined from Porto after a prolonged transfer-saga for £32 million, instantly becoming the Premier League’s most expensive defender. He hasn’t had much of a pre-season due to the transfer taking so long to complete and also World Cup commitments, but he has reportedly been training on his own in order to keep his fitness levels up. He isn’t ready to play a part against Newcastle, so could make his debut in the home game against Liverpool on August 25th instead.
City are likely to have very strong challengers for the title in Chelsea, Arsenal and maybe even Manchester United, and will be keen to hit the ground running in order to prove they can lead the way. Newcastle aren’t going to sit and roll over for The Blues – it’ll be a tough game, as it always is. Like it was in the penultimate game of the title-winning 2011-12 season, like it was last season. However City will go into it with the same mentality that they always seem to these days – that they want to win, and that they can.
