Football fans will be hoping for a repeat of last year’s fixture between Manchester City and Newcastle United when they meet at St. James Park this weekend.
Entertainment brought the Geordie bums to the edge of their seats that day, but the teams shared the spoils back in August.
Newcastle will be hoping for three points this time around to lead an upturn in their form, and their chances have just improved with the opponent’s injury news.
Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Erling Haaland won’t return for the Newcastle game, with John Stones also unavailable through an ankle injury.
The Norwegian has not played since the defeat to Aston Villa in early December due to a foot injury, with Dan Burn and co in the defence department celebrating after not coming up against the Premier League’s top goalscorer.
Guardiola also stated that Jack Grealish is a doubt for the fixture after suffering this week with illness.
So, good news for Newcastle as their key threat is confirmed out, however, the Spanish manager was also confirming the bad news for the home fans ahead of the upcoming fixture.
Key playmaker, Kevin de Bruyne, is back and ready to play from the start with the Belgian assist king likely to relish the chance of kicking his season off.
The FA Cup return was the first time we have seen the assist king in a blue shirt for 150 days with an 18-minute cameo showing he’s ready to come back, turning a 2-0 potential result into a more convincing 5-0 drubbing over Huddersfield.
Kevin De Bruyne's exceptional creativity is evident in the fact that he has the highest number of assists among players in Europe's top five leagues since the beginning of last season. It is worth noting that this achievement is even more impressive, considering his limited playing time in the current campaign amounts to just 82 minutes.
Newcastle, along with the Premier League opponents, will be nervous especially now the injury curse has struck the northeast again.
Joelinton is out for a minimum of six weeks and will leave a big hole in the middle of the park, likely filled by Lewis Miley.
Eddie Howe spoke about the injury in his press conference: “It isn’t good, it is an injury that will see him miss a minimum of six weeks, it is a real blow for us.”
“He is such an important player. He has a problem with his tendon in his quad”
Take the good news with a pinch of salt, as come the final whistle, Newcastle fans may be cursing their bad luck yet again.