Tuesday evening serves up a solitary fixture as Gameweek 34 moves into the fourth of a marathon six-day stretch. Newcastle gave their survival bid a real shot in the arm with a vital 3-0 home win over Swansea on Saturday but face a tough task at St James’ against a City side that have scored seven times in their previous couple of road trips.
The visitors arrive in sparkling form after a Sergio Aguero hat-trick swept aside Chelsea at the Bridge in the first of their two Gameweek 34 fixtures. Over their respective last four matches, Manuel Pellegrini’s men sit joint-top with Arsenal for attempts inside the box (47) and have found the net on nine occasions. Considering that their hosts have conceded 37 shots inside the box over that period – a tally worse than only two other sides, United and West Ham with 40 apiece – and City’s prospects of more goals seems likely.
Newcastle have scored seven times in their last four, though have been boosted by a goal conversion rate of 14.9% during that time frame – only Arsenal (16.1%) have been more clinical. A total of 27 efforts inside the penalty area fares poorly when compared to this evening’s opponents, though. Indeed, bearing in mind that City have the second-most resilient defence for efforts conceded in the box (20 to Tottenham’s 19), Newcastle may well have their work cut out to deliver another precious three points.
