Premier League: Newcastle v Man City preview, predictions and tips

Ladbrokes shares its preview, tips and predictions for Newcastle v Man City on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League.

In their first Premier League game since their intense 2-2 draw with Arsenal, Man City travel to St James Park for an ever-tricky 12:30 game on Saturday afternoon against Newcastle.

The game represents an opportunity for Man City to get back to winning ways and prove that, even without Rodri, they're still comfortably the best team in the league, justify why they're favourites to be crowned Champions for the with year running come May 2025.

The issue is, they're coming up against Newcastle at one of the most hostile grounds in the country, with the Geordies eager to also get back to winning ways after a 3-1 loss to Fulham last time out.

So, with all that being said, join Ladbrokes as our team of experts share their preview, tips and predictions for the big Newcastle v Man City game.

Man City are coming off the back of a tricky 2-2 draw with Arsenal in the Premier League, which was actually the first time they dropped points in the league since their 0-0 draw with Arsenal on March 31 last season.

Pep Guardiola and co will be eager to show that was just a blip against another of the league's best sides, but they'll be attempting to do so without arguably their most important player, Rodri.

In the first half of the game against Arsenal, Rodri was taken off with a knee issue, with City now confirming that he's suffered ligament damage. Reports have indicated that the midfielder will now, unfortunately, miss the rest of the season.

When they were without Rodri last season, City tended to fall apart, so Guardiola and co will have to come up with ways to deal without their star man until January at least, when they'll be allowed to potentially sign a replacement in the transfer window.

As for Newcastle, the Geordies have failed to impress with their performances so far this season, as highlighted by their recent 3-1 loss to Fulham, but still find themselves in sixth place in the Premier League, with 10 points from their opening five games.

Despite Newcastle managing to grind out results and Man City having to deal without Rodri, the reigning Premier League champions are still expected to win the game, and that's been reflected in the bookies' odds, with City the clear favourites.

As noted, Man City are without Rodri for Saturday's game, as is expected to be the case for all of their remaining fixtures this season.

Also potentially out is Kevin De Bruyne, who was taken off at half-time in the 0-0 draw to Inter Milan in mid-September. The Belgian missed the two games that followed against Arsenal and Watford, the latter of which being in the Carabao Cup, and it remains to be seen whether he's fit enough to return here.

Nathan Ake and Oscar Bobb are also out through injury, but other than that, it seems to be a pretty full strength squad that Guardiola has the ability to pick from for the trip to Newcastle on Saturday.

Newcastle have been given a few days extra rest after their cup game against Wimbledon was postponed due to a water damaged pitch.

Despite having a few days extra rest, Eddie Howe will definitely be without Sven Botman and Jamal Lascalles, who are out with long-term injuries. Lewis Miley and Callum Wilson are also expected to miss out, whilst Alexander Isak should be fit to play despite a few injury scares over the last couple of weeks.

Possible starting line-ups:

Newcastle - Pope; Trippier, Schar, Burn, Kelly; Guimaraes, Joelinton, Willock; Gordon, Isak, Barnes

Man City - Ederson; Lewis, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol; Gundogan, Kovacic, Bernardo, Savinho, Haaland, Grealish

As noted earlier in the preview, Man City are the favourites to beat Newcastle, with the bookies of the belief that despite their injury issues, Guardiola's men have enough quality to beat the resilient Geordies.

However, we do think that Rodri being missing will make City more defensively weak, so we're predicting that both teams find the back of the net at St James Park on Saturday afternoon, as covered in our Premier League 24/25 weekly acca.

We also think that City will have less control in the midfield with one of the best players in the world missing, so we're begging both Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan to get carded against Newcastle, with games against Howe's sides tending to be rather physical.

For the final tip of the Newcastle v Man City, we're going for something that has happened in each of the Cityzens' matches this season in England's top-flight, and that's for Erling Haaland to find the back of the net.

Haaland has scored 10 goals in five games so far this season, and will end the campaign with 76 goals if he manages to play every game and continues with that goal scoring rate. He's very clearly the favourite to win the Golden Boot too, something he's done in every single season he's been in the Premier League so far.

It's unlikely that happens, but we're still expected the big Norwegian striker to find the back of the net against Newcastle at the weekend, as he's shown a knack of doing dating back to his days at Molde, Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund.

You can either place single bets on the tips we've included within this preview article, or merge them into a five-fold acca, which we've posted below.

View the latest football odds.

All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication.