Manchester City dramatically beat Newcastle 3-2 away in a spectacular clash of the 21st round of the English Premier League. At "St James's Park", the Citizens produced a valuable turnaround thanks to a superb performance from the bench by the recently returned Kevin De Bruyne, who had a goal and an assist in the crucial victory in the title race.
The match started with a goal for the hosts at the very beginning, but it was canceled after the intervention of VAR for an offside. When Sean Longstaff scored the goal, Kyle Walker's self-sacrificing dive inadvertently injured the Citizens' goalkeeper Ederson, who after medical treatment continued his participation, but briefly. The visitors could have suffered when Nathan Ake cut the ball back to Ederson, who mistimed a shot at Miguel Almiron, but the Magpies failed to capitalize. In the end, the Brazilian goalkeeper was forced to be replaced by Stefan Ortega.
After that point in the match, City began to dominate possession and opened the scoring through Bernardo Silva, who beat keeper Martin Dubravka with an elegant back-heel. The Geordies had claims for a foul by Ruben Dias on Anthony Gordon during the goal attack, but they were not upheld by referee Chris Kavanagh. Again, Silva could have been jubilant, but his shot was saved by Dubravka. In the space of just 120 seconds, Eddie Howe's men turned the tide with two identical goals from Alexander Isak and Gordon.
After the break, the champions began to seriously press the opponent and settled permanently in their half. Bruno Guimaraes intervened decisively before Rodri got to the ball in the box and Phil Foden's shot was saved by Dubravka. In the 69th minute, Silva was replaced by De Bruyne, who inspired Pep Guardiola's team to make a valuable comeback. First, the Belgian equalized with a measured shot past Dubravka five minutes after entering the field, and then provided a goal assist for another of Guardiola's substitutes, Oscar Bobb, who elegantly overcame Dubravka and scored into an empty net. Newcastle were unable to respond to the challenge and suffered a sixth defeat in their last seven Premier League games.
Howe's side are tenth in the table with 29 points after their tenth defeat since the start of the campaign, with the Magpies starting to drift away from the top four, currently 11 points adrift of fourth-placed Arsenal, who also have a game in hand. Manchester City, meanwhile, have climbed to second place with 43 points, two adrift of leaders Liverpool, with the two teams evenly matched to date. The Sky Blues are away to Tottenham in an FA Cup match and then host Burnley in the Premier League. Newcastle visit Fulham in the FA Cup and then travel to Birmingham for a Premiership visit in their next two games. /BGNES
