Man City slump 1:2 to Newcastle as Haaland miss chances
Man City slump 1:2 to Newcastle at St James’ Park, throwing their premier league title hopes into jeopardy. Erling Haaland and Phil Foden both squandered golden opportunities on a night when City’s usually lethal attack drew a rare blank, while Harvey Barnes stole the show for the hosts with a goal in each half.
The opening 45 minutes were a collector’s item: the most big chances created in a single half of Premier League football all season, yet somehow the score remained goalless. Haaland was the main culprit for City, first chipping wide after Jeremy Doku’s perfectly weighted pass and then shooting tamely at Nick Pope from Nico O’Reilly’s cut-back. Foden joined the profligacy parade moments later, steering a close-range effort past the far post after a slick exchange with new signing Rayan Cherki.
Newcastle were hardly blameless themselves. Nick Woltemade twice failed to test Gianluigi Donnarumma properly, and Barnes produced the miss of the night, somehow spooning over from three yards after a teasing low cross. City felt aggrieved on two occasions when penalty claims were waved away—first when Foden went down under Fabian Schär’s challenge (after already getting his shot off) and again when a Jeremy Doku strike struck Malick Thiaw’s arm.
The second half finally delivered the breakthrough in the 64th minute. Barnes made amends for his earlier howler, collecting the ball on the left edge of the box and rifling a low drive across Donnarumma into the far corner. City responded almost instantly, Ruben Dias levelling with a shot that looped viciously off Schär and over Pope.
Parity lasted barely five minutes. Bruno Guimarães crashed a header against the crossbar from a corner, and when Donnarumma could only push the rebound into the danger zone, Barnes reacted quickest to force the ball home from close range. An anxious VAR check for offside eventually confirmed the goal, leaving City eight added minutes to salvage something. They huffed and puffed but never truly threatened again.
The result marks Manchester City’s fourth league defeat in just twelve matches—an alarming return for the defending champions—and hands Arsenal a golden opportunity to extend their lead at the top ahead of Sunday’s north London derby. For Pep Guardiola, a night of glaring misses and defensive lapses will make for uncomfortable viewing.
