'A brave man' - Alan Shearer makes Man City vs Newcastle United prediction
Alan Shearer has given his verdict on the outcome of Saturday's clash between Manchester City and Newcastle United.
Only a ‘brave man’ would predict Newcastle United picking up a result against Manchester City this weekend.
That’s according to Alan Shearer, who has given his verdict on the outcome of this Saturday’s Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium. The Magpies go into the weekend with renewed confidence after winning their last three matches across all competitions, beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in the Premier League, Aston Villa 3-1 in the FA Cup, and Qarabag 6-1 in the Champions League - all away from home.
However, the fact remains that Eddie Howe’s side have won just one of their last five Premier League matches and sit 10th in the table, 17 points adrift of this weekend’s opponents, who have won six and drawn one of their last seven games across all competitions, have taken 10 points from their last four league matches, and are looking to close the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points.
Alan Shearer makes Man City vs Newcastle United prediction
This will be Newcastle’s fourth meeting with Manchester City already this season, with a fifth in the FA Cup guaranteed in early March. While the Magpies won 2-1 at St. James’ Park in the Premier League in November, they were beaten 5-1 on aggregate in the EFL Cup semi-final, culminating in a 3-1 loss at the Etihad Stadium in the second leg at the start of this month - with the Magpies going 3-0 down inside 32 minutes.
Newcastle have lost their last 12 away matches at Man City across all competitions, with a 2-0 win in the League Cup back in October 2014 - courtesy of goals from Rolando Aarons and Moussa Sissoko - their last victory in such a fixture. With all of that in mind, even Newcastle legend Shearer cannot see anything other than a victory for Pep Guardiola’s men.
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“Well, it's going to be a minimum of five games that Newcastle play Man City this season, it could even be six, depending on what happens in the Champions League if Newcastle were to get through the round of 16 as well as Man City, then they could meet each other again, but five times guaranteed with the draw in the FA Cup,” Shearer told Betfair.
Predicting a defeat for his former club, record Premier League goalscorer Shearer continued: “I mean, with Newcastle's form at the Etihad, it'd take a brave man to predict anything other than a Man City win. As much as it hurts me, probably because of that, Man City. “Newcastle are going to be full of confidence off the back of three straight away wins. But it hasn't helped that Man City have had a free week and Newcastle had a long journey on a Wednesday when they're playing on a Saturday night. So, yeah, it's a big ask for Newcastle, but they’re in good form away from home.
“I just look at their record at Manchester City and it's dreadful. So, it’d take a brave man to predict anything other than a City win. “City will be raring to go for this. I mean, there's no doubt that they would have watched the Arsenal game. Pep would have watched the Arsenal game and now they've now got to go and put the pressure back on. They play before Arsenal this weekend again, so, it's their turn to put the pressure back onto Arsenal for their game on Sunday.”