Manchester City have earned a crucial three points against Newcastle in the Premier League, but there were moments when the victory looked in doubt.
Manchester City have got the job done against Newcastle, but they had to work hard to come away triumphant.
The visitors managed to keep themselves in the game and had one final corner at the end which saw Nick Pope join the attack.
However, the away side had limited chances during the second half and were ultimately second best on the night.
Nico O’Reilly was the star man for Manchester City
Man City ultimately won tonight’s game thanks to Nico O’Reilly, who caused Newcastle all sorts of problems in the first half.
The 20-year-old opened the scoring after 14 minutes with a powerful strike which he smashed home from just inside the penalty box.
Lewis Hall responded for the visitors just eight minutes later, but it was O’Reilly who found the net once more with a header.
Following the break, both teams had a quieter second half and in the end Man City deserved their win.
Man City were the dominant team
Pep Guardiola’s men maintained 55 per cent of the possession throughout the match, created four big chances and recorded 1.35xG.
Newcastle were far less innovative in attack and only managed an xG of 0.58. Although they took the same number of shots as City, they had very few opportunities on the whole.
As a result, Man City are the ones left celebrating a hard-fought victory and now all the pressure is on Arsenal to secure three points in tomorrow’s North London derby.
Full time: Manchester City 2-1 Newcastle United
