Newcastle vs. Manchester City: Predicted Line-up for the blues

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Manchester City’s Spanish manager Pep Guardiola (C) speaks to Manchester City’s Portuguese defender Joao Cancelo (R) during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on August 13, 2022. – RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images) /

Ederson

Ederson keeps his place against Newcastle. The Brazilian made some important saves against Bournemouth from a couple of rare counter attacks, which illustrates his improvement in maintaining concentration.

This could be with the introduction to new signing Ortega, a keeper that could genuinely compete for top spot and push Ederson to a new level.

Walker

Walker is another that is a dead certain starter, his importance was highlighted after he missed some games due to injury towards the backend of last season.

He has a slightly new role this season, playing a little inverted in front of the centre backs, which allows Rodri to wander forward with more ease, without losing stability at the back.

His pace allows him to continue to limit counter attacking, and his versatility has enabled him to settle convincingly within his adjusted role.

Dias

Dias hasn’t put a foot wrong in the first two games, a leader at the back, I expect him to keep his starting place. He played 64 minutes against Bournemouth before making way for John Stones – the man, not Bernardo’s dog.

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During that time, he had a shot, won two aerial duels, and had a 90% pass success rate. Defensively he made two interceptions and two clearances. A quiet performance in a solid and dominant showing.

Newcastle vs. Manchester City 21/22 saw Dias score the first goal of the fixture after just five minutes – can he get himself on the scoresheet again?

Ake

It could be Stones that returns to the starting XI, and with his introduction for Dias against Bournemouth he could be returning to full fitness.

In my opinion, Ake does not deserve to lose his starting spot. Not only was he solid defensively, a pass accuracy of 96%, his drives into the box towards the end as the game turned stale allowed him to get a couple of shots in.

Cancelo

Nailed on. Despite the signing of an actual left-back, and it has been a while, Gomez hasn’t been training with the team long and therefore, I don’t expect a Pep surprise. Perhaps we will see him as a sub.

Cancelo seems to be thriving so far, his versatility allows him to play in almost any position. Against West Ham, we saw him more inverted to create a more solid base for the CB’s. Against Bournemouth, he was further forward and out wide stretching the Bournemouth defence.

The Portuguese right-back/left-back/wing-back/creative midfielder assisted the first and scored on the 27th minute of the 21/22 Newcastle vs. Manchester City fixture.