NEWCASTLE UNITED 2, MANCHESTER CITY 1
Manchester City’s title challenge suffered a massive dent when they came unstuck at Newcastle United after taking the lead.
With City having such a great record against Newcastle, and travelling up on the back of 29 goals scored so far in January things looks very good after it appeared that City boss Pep Guardiola had picked his strongest possible side.
Last season’s midfield trio of Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, and Fernandinho were getting a start together in the Premier League for the first time this term.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt looked even better after 24 seconds when Sergio Aguero scored his 15th goal in 13 games against the Magpies.
Raheem Sterling’s cross fell to David Silva whose attempted header under pressure from goalkeeper Martin Dubravka fell to Aguero who couldn’t miss from 6 yards out.
And had Aguero’s second goal been allowed to stand after Kevin De Bruyne took a free kick too early for the referee to allow it things might have happened differently up at St James’ Park.
De Bruyne was booked for his part in the incident and City never recovered.
Just as in the unexpected defeats against Crystal Palace and Leicester City, the Magpies picked themselves up and fought back to beat Manchester City in the Premier League for the first time since since September 2005.
This time, rather than missing Fernandinho, the Brazilian appears to have been partly responsible for errors that led to their defeat.
The Blues paid in full for their first half profligacy when defensive errors from Fernandinho allowed Solomon Rondon to smash the loose ball past Ederson to equalise after 66 minutes.
There was worse to come when Fernandinho fouled Sean Longstaff in the area to concede a penalty and Matt Ritchie put the Magpies into the lead with 10 minutes to go after Ederson had a break to treat an injury before Ritchie’s spot kick put the home side into the lead.
City had had a very limp second half and never looked like scoring with most of the defenders looking shaky at times and the attackers lacking focus.
The defeat meant that the Blues have dropped 16 points out of their 24 Premier League games played this season – more than the 14 lost points from last season’s record breaking exploits.
More to the point, league leaders Liverpool could find themselves a towering 7 points ahead in the table by the time City take to the Etihad to face Arsenal on Sunday.
And they’ll have former manager Rafa Benitez to thank for the favour as his Magpies celebrated three unexpected points and news that they could be about to sign new players in the last remaining days of the transfer window.