When and where
The Premier League champions host the Magpies on Saturday 1 September, kick-off at 5:30pm (BST).
The game will be shown live on BT Sport for viewers in the UK.
Fans can find out where they can watch Saturday’s match with our TV listings…
Team news
City
Kevin De Bruyne is expected to be out for up to three months upon sustaining a lateral collateral ligament (LCL) lesion.
The Chilean ‘keeper underwent scans, which confirmed a rupture in the tendon of his left foot.
Danilo also remains absent with a foot injury, which he picked up during the group stages of the World Cup, but Pep Guardiola stated that the Brazilian is ‘doing well.’
The rest of the squad is fully fit.
Newcastle
Rafa Benitez confirmed Jonjo Shelvey, Matt Ritchie and Javier Manquillo will not feature. Florian Lejeune is a long-term absentee with an ACL injury.
Head-to-head
The pair have met 177 times in all competitions.
City have triumphed on 67 occasions and Newcastle 71, while there have been 39 draws.
The last time
We last faced the North East outfit in January 2018 in the Premier League.
City’s all-time record goalscorer Sergio Aguero bagged a hat-trick, while Jacob Murphy netted for the visitors.
You can remind yourself of the match with our highlights below...
Officials
Referee: Kevin Friend
Assistants: Simon Bennett, Derek Eaton
Fourth official: Craig Pawson
Pep Guardiola preview
On bouncing back...
“We’re in August. There are a lot of points to play for and the real season starts after the international break, every three games, the travelling and no time to prepare for the games.
“We dropped two, or won one, point at Wolves. The secret last season was when we did that we won the next game.”
On Newcastle...
“Some teams play more defensively but that is not a problem,” Guardiola said. “Everybody can do what they believe.
“In the end, we are here to get points.
“If they decide to play in that way, we will do what we have to do.
“That is not a problem. They believe in their styles. It’s in our hands to solve that. That is the trick.”
Rafa Benitez preview...
On injuries...
“Jonjo Shelvey and Matt Ritchie are not available.
“Javier Manquillo is training, but not in the squad. Jamaal Lacelles is available.”
“As a manager, you want professionals who care and try to compete and win.
“In all my life as a player and a coach, every year you have two or three situations in the dressing room during a game or during a training session when something happens between players.
“Why? Because they want to win, they care. You want competitive professionals – we have competitive professionals and I think it’s very positive.”
Stats
• City have lost just one of the last 23 meetings with Newcastle, winning 19 of those fixtures.
• The Blues’ 21-match unbeaten run against the Magpies in the Premier League is our longest against a top-flight team.
• Sergio Aguero has scored 14 goals in his last 11 Premier League appearances against Newcastle.
• Aguero has bagged three PL hat-tricks in 2018, including one against the north east outfit. Only two players have netted four or more hat-tricks in a calendar year in the competition, with Harry Kane doing so six times in 2017 and Alan Shearer registering five trebles in 1995.
• City are three goals better off than we were at this stage of last season in the Premier League (P3, W2, D1, L0, GF9, GA2, PTS 7).
