Newcastle United host Man City at St James’ Park this evening, and The Magpies will be hoping to try and put an end to a horrific 14 year record.
The Toon haven’t beaten Manchester City in the Premier League since 2005, and The Citizens remain the giant Newcastle just can’t seem to kill.
The pair have met 22 times in the league during the past 14 years, and Newcastle have only come away with a point on three of those occasions.
It’s perhaps not surprising that City have been so dominant over Newcastle though.
The Manchester side saw a financial takeover by Sheik Mansour in 2008, the same season the Toon saw their first PL relegation.
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When Newcastle returned to the top flight in 2010, City were suddenly title contenders.
However despite City’s turn in fortune, there is no excuse for such a poor record.
It’s a distressing record and The Magpies need to stop the fixture becoming a non-event.
There’s something about City
Despite City’s Premier League dominance in the last decade, the fact Newcastle haven’t nicked just one win is bizarre.
In the past 14 years, Newcastle have had a perfectly acceptable win ratio against the current top six.
In that time, they have beaten Liverpool five times, Spurs 11 times, and Chelsea seven.
They’ve even managed to beat Arsenal and Man United three times each, despite similarly woeful head-to-head records.
So why can’t they beat City?
Well, one of the biggest reasons, is City’s pure fire power.
In their last 22 PL meetings, the Manchester side have scored 56 goals against Newcastle.
Newcastle meanwhile, have managed just 12 against City.
Sergio Aguero in particular has been a thorn in the side of the Toon.
The striker’s 14 goals in 12 games against Newcastle is a phenomenal record.
In fact, no other player has scored more goals against an opponent for a single club in PL history.
Since he joined Man City in 2011, the club have scored 38 PL goals against Newcastle, meaning the Argentinian has bagged over a 1/3 of them on his own.
But there’s evidence to suggest Newcastle may no longer be the battering ram of City or Aguero.
With Rafa Benitez at the helm during the past three years, the Toon have looked slightly closer to getting a result against their bogey team.
Newcastle need a slice of luck
Despite only scoring 12 goals in their last 22 matches against City, Newcastle have been most productive in the last few seasons.
In their last five matches against the Manchester side, the Toon have managed four goals.
It may not seem like much, but it’s a vast improvement on their five match blank streak between 2013 and 2015.
The Magpies have also conceded just seven goals in their last four matches against City.
Again this doesn’t seem like much until you compare it to the 15 they conceded in the four matches previous to that.
Of course these improved figures in their last four matches are due to Rafa Benitez.
The manager knows how to get the best out of the team against City, and in 2016 he got Newcastle their first point against The Citizens since 2008.
And he’s been unlucky not to get another result in the three meetings since.
In 2017 the Toon lost to a single Raheem Sterling goal and earlier this season a late Kyle Walker strike snatched away a potential 1-1 draw.
Although keeping the game tight and defensive isn’t great viewing, it’s easy to see that it’s Newcastle’s best chance of a result.
