Ruben Dias returns at the heart of the defence while Julian Alvarez will play behind Erling Haaland.
They take the places of Nathan Ake and Cole Palmer from the side that beat Sevilla on penalties in the UEFA Super Cup in Athens on Wednesday.
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Both sides enjoyed comprehensive victories in their first league outings this season with City winning 3-0 at Burnley and Newcastle ending up 5-1 victors over Aston Villa.
This is our first game at the Etihad since lifting the Premier League trophy in May, having been to Wembley, Istanbul and Athens to win the FA Cup, Champions League and UEFA Super Cup in the meantime.
Teams
CITY XI: Ederson, Walker (C), Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol, Rodrigo, Kovacic, Foden, Grealish, Alvarez, Haaland
Subs: Ortega Moreno, Phillips, Ake, Gomez, Perrone, Bobb, Palmer, Lewis, McAtee
NEWCASTLE XI: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Bruno G. Tonali, Joelinton, Almiron, Gordon, Isak
Subs: Dubravka, Lascelles, Wilson, Ritchie, Targett, Barnes, Livramento, Anderson, Longstaff
Tactics
Ederson will play between the sticks with a back four of Kyle Walker, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol in front of him.
Mateo Kovacic and Rodrigo will be the deepest midfielders, with Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez and Jack Grealish will be ahead of them in support of central striker Erling Haaland.
Home debuts
We may be without two fan favourites in Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva this evening, but there are a couple of new faces for the Etihad faithful to get excited about.
Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic will both make their home debuts, having already played for the Club and even lifted the UEFA Super Cup earlier this week.
Gvardiol looked incredibly assured from left-back in Athens, passing out from the back and joining attacks regularly.
Meanwhile, Kovacic has appeared mostly alongside Rodrigo, with the midfielders taking it in turns to push forwards and support those ahead of them.
Triumphant return
City have already won four trophies in 2023 and all four have been lifted since the last ball in anger was kicked at the Etihad Stadium.
We celebrated a third straight Premier League after that May win against Chelsea before setting off for Wembley, Istanbul and Athens in order to seal the FA Cup, Champions League and UEFA Super Cup prizes.
This will be the first time our fans have gathered at our home in almost three months, so there’s bound to be plenty of excitement in the stands, especially when they get their first glimpse of our Treble winners.
Match stats
- We have lost just one of our last 31 Premier League games against Newcastle (W25 D5), going down 2-1 at St. James’ Park in January 2019.
- We have won our last 14 Premier League home games against Newcastle, scoring 48 goals and conceding just seven. It’s both our longest winning home run and the Magpies’ longest losing away run against single sides in their league histories.
- City have scored in each of our last 29 Premier League games against Newcastle, a record for one side against another in the competition. On top of this, we have scored in each of our last 16 halves of Premier League football against the Magpies, also a joint-record in the competition.
- Newcastle have never won in 18 Premier League games at the Etihad Stadium (D2 L16), with their last away league win against Man City coming at Maine Road in September 2000. It’s the most any team has played at a specific venue without ever winning in Premier League history.
- Manchester City have scored 97 Premier League goals against Newcastle, and have scored at least three times against them in five of our last seven meetings. The Magpies could be the first team the Citizens reach a century of goals against in the competition.
- City have lost our opening home league game in just one of the last 23 seasons (W16 D6), going down 5-2 against Leicester City in 2020-21. Meanwhile, the reigning top-flight champions have only lost their first home game in one of the last 41 campaigns (W31 D9), with Chelsea losing 3-2 against Burnley in 2017-18.
- Following their 5-1 win over Aston Villa on MD1, Newcastle are looking to win both of their opening two games to a Premier League campaign for the first time since 1997-98.
- City have won 21 of our last 23 Premier League games at the Etihad (D1 L1), with the exceptions coming in consecutive games against Brentford (1-2) and Everton (1-1) in November/December last season.
- Erling Haaland has scored 38 goals in 36 Premier League appearances, netting twice in Man City‘s opening day victory against Burnley. The Norwegian has also been involved in 29 goals in just 18 league games at the Etihad Stadium, scoring 22 and assisting seven.
