Manchester City will now be going into Saturday night’s game against Newcastle United with another trophy to their name after winning the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday night.
Pep Guardiola‘s side beat Europa League winners Sevilla on penalties to come out on top, after drawing 1-1 in 90 minutes.
It was far from a complete performance by Man City, who conceded a lot of chances to the La Liga side.
That will give Eddie Howe a lot of encouragement, as he looks to build on Newcastle’s incredible start to the Premier League.
Some fans are jokingly dubbing it a title decider between Newcastle and Man City, and it is clear that Jack Grealish knows just how big a game it is.
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Jack Grealish ready for ‘really good’ Newcastle
Following the UEFA Super Cup win, Grealish spoke to TNT Sport. The England international celebrated wildly after the Champions League win back in June, but is expecting things to be a bit tamer this time ahead of the game with Newcastle.
“Put a ban on that,” he said.
“We’ll go home tonight, eat some nice food and chill. We’ve got another game in three days. Recovery then back to the Premier League.
“We have a massive game against a really good team so it will be a really good test for us.”
Newcastle have a free hit against Manchester City
Obviously Grealish is going to heap praise on Newcastle. It would be disrespectful not to, as we found out when he had too much to drink and had a pop at Miguel Almiron last year!
But the Man City winger is clearly wary of Newcastle’s threat, and is expecting a ‘massive’ game at the Etihad.
It will be exactly that, and Howe will fancy his side’s chances of causing an upset.
Newcastle made a real statement with their win over Aston Villa, while they performed well against Man City on both occasions last season. The Magpies have the skillset to hurt Guardiola’s side, who showed last night that they are far from perfect right now.
And with Man City going into the game less fresh after a midweek trip to Athens, you have to feel like this is a wonderful opportunity for Newcastle to get something.