Newcastle v Manchester City Live – Mangala to partner Kompany in opener

The 2014/15 Premier League season is upon us and Sunday offers a clash between Newcastle United and Manchester City, which is live on Sky Sports 1 from 16:00.

Newcastle finished 2014/15 Very Badly

As well as the constant squabbling between manager, owner and board, on the pitch Newcastle lost a staggering 14 of their last 20 games in 2014/15. All in all and accounting for a better start and middle of their season, consistency is the problem.

Ashley has splashed the cash

Unwilling to loosen his purse strings to the same extent last season, Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has splashed the cash on Remy Cabella (£12m, Montpellier), Emmanuel Riviere (£6m, Monaco) Siem De Jong (£6m, Ajax) and Daryl Janmaat (£5m, Feyenoord). The loss of right-back Mathieu Debuchy to Arsenal for £10m, however, is certainly bad news for the club.

Mangala heads New List of City Signings

Blessed with lightning-fast pace and courted by most of Europe’s big-guns, Eliaquim Mangala (£32m, Porto) is City’s most recent and expensive signing in the off-season and the Frenchman should provide a much needed top-quality partner for Vincent Kompany in central defence.

Otherwise, Fernando (£12m, Porto), Willy Caballero (£6m, Malaga), Bacary Sagna (Free, Arsenal) and Bruno Zuculini (£1.5m, Racing Club) are all also new Man City players.

City Embarrassed in Community Shield

The Manchester City manager, Manuel Pellegrini, had to make do without several important players in the season-opening showpiece Community Shield event on August 10, including best striker Sergio Aguero, Spanish forward Alvaro Negredo, key player and best defender Vincent Kompany and right-back Pablo Zabaleta.

2013/14 FA Cup winners Arsenal, of course, must be credited for their 3-0 demolition of the reigning Premier League champions, but City’s absentee list was certainly a contributing factor.

While Negredo remains injured and won’t be available for selection against Newcastle, the good news for City is that Kompany, Aguero and Zabaleta should all be fit enough to play.

Newcastle v Man City Betting

The home side are priced at 22/5 with BetVictor, the draw is 3/1 with Ladbrokes and Manchester City are 4/6 with Paddy Power to win their first game of the new season.

All in all, we think that Manchester City will have a point to prove after their no-show Community Shield performance against Arsenal last weekend, but also guess that Newcastle have a good chance of scoring and fancy three or more goals in the game. Over 2.5 goals is currently priced at 8/11 with Bet Victor.