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Afternoon. It may not be long before the phrase "Typical City" will be uttered after they've won yet another trophy. However for the time being at least, it still means Manchester City are a club never too far away from shooting themselves in the foot in the most slapstick fashion. Typical City means needing a win against Liverpool to stay up on the final day of the 1995-96 season but wasting time in the corner in the dying stages because you've been erroneously told a draw will do. Typical City means the original Lewis Dunk, Jamie Pollock, juggling the ball past his own defenders and then lobbing his goalkeeper with a perfectly judged header. It means Garry Cook. The sorely missed Garry Cook. And it could mean beating Manchester United to go back to the top of the table, only to lose the very next game. Should City fail to win at Newcastle this afternoon, you can bet the first words to come out of their supporters' mouths, other than ones beginning with eff and cee, will be "Typical City".
After the victory in the Manchester derby on Monday, City could have done without a trip to St James' Park. Other than last week's defeat against the best side in the world, Wigan Athletic, Newcastle are on a red-hot streak, winning seven of their last eight games, and in Papiss Cisse they possess a striker apparently capable of defying the law of physics; after his mind-boggling absurdity against Chelsea, there are probably still some people whose jaws are yet to be extracted from the ground. He has 13 goals in his last 12 games, defying the theory that there is no value in the January transfer market, and will be ably supported by Demba Ba, Hatem Ben Arfa and Yohan Cabaye.
Three points for Newcastle will take them into the top four, above Arsenal and possibly Tottenham. Yet City have an even bigger prize on offer – a win more or less wraps up the title - and they may well have too much power and skill for Alan Pardew's side. They'll probably need all of it; Newcastle are unlikely to be as compliant as United were on Monday and City have not won a truly difficult away game since the 6-1 win in the derby in October. But the manner in which they have clawed back the eight-point deficit - unprecedented with six games to go in the Premier League era - would suggest they have the bit between their teeth and aren't about to throw away their advantage now. This is Manchester City though. Your guess is as good as mine.
Kick-off is at: 1.30pm. Read More
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