MAN CITY 2, NEWCASTLE UNITED 1
It was far from the stroll in the park it appeared in the early stages as Manchester City were made to work hard for their victory against a spirited Newcastle United.
Goals from Raheem Sterling on his 100th league appearance for City and a spectacular first for the club from Kyle Walker finally gave City a 10th straight home Premier League victory against Newcastle.
And it came on the day club captain Vincent Kompany was the recipient of a presentation to mark 10 years at the club that was taken over by Sheikh Mansour a decade ago the same week.
City were not at their best against a well-drilled Newcastle side as Rafa Benitez played 5-4-1 to frustrate, but stretched their unbeaten record to 10 league games with only one loss in their last 19.
Manager Pep Guardiola added he was satisfied with City’s display, though he described the goal conceded on the counter attack as “very, very bad”.
But in the second half he was pleased with the way City dealt with Newcastle’s threat on the break while also creating chances.
Guardiola was delighted for Walker and praised the defender, saying: “He has quality with crosses and shooting in that position and we need to use him more.”
City’s manager also paid tribute to Sheikh Mansour for his 10 years and lifting the club to another level in which they have won three league titles in that period.
City made three changes from the side that started in the 1-1 draw at Wolves.
There were recalls for John Stones, Riyad Mahrez and Gabriel Jesus with Vincent Kompany, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan standing down.
Leroy Sane was excluded from the squad with unconfirmed reports the reason was poor performances in training.
Mahrez had an early chance for City who made the breakthrough in the eighth minute through Sterling.
Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles gave away the ball in a dangerous position and Benjamin Mendy set up Sterling who cut in from the left before firing home an unstoppable shot, his second goal of the season.
It was left-back Mendy’s sixth assist of the season, four on which are in the Premier League.
Sergio Aguero and Jesus had chances to increase City’s lead as it looked like being a long afternoon for Newcastle.
Then completely against the run of play, Newcastle equalised on the half hour.
Brazilian Kenedy showed a delightful touch to control the ball before releasing Salomon Rondon on the left and his low cross was slotted home at the far post by wing-back DeAndre Yedlin.
It was Yedlin’s second goal for Newcastle and first in the Premier League in 61 games and the first Premier League goal by an American since Geoff Cameron for Stoke City in 2014.
City were back ahead in the 52nd minute through an unlikely source, right-back Walker.
Sterling cut in from the left and Aguero laid the ball off to Walker whose 30-yard drive arrowed into the bottom corner beyond the despairing dive of keeper Martin Dubravska, his first goal for City and first since 2015.
City thought they had added a third goal, but Jesus’ effort was ruled out through offside in the build up, his last action before he was replaced by Bernardo Silva.
And City were denied again, this time with a triple save from Dubravka, twice to thwart David Silva and also Fernandinho in the same move.
City made a second change when Gundogan replaced Mahrez with 14 minutes left and their last one in the final minute when Kompany was sent on for David Silva to ensure they did not let their slender lead slip.
Aguero had the chance to seal victory in stoppage time when he was sent clean through by Fernandinho only for Dubravka to make a super stop at his feet.
It was a rare blank for Aguero against Newcastle as he had found the net 11 times in his previous seven games against them.