Overview
Newcastle ended their 3-game losing streak at home in the Premier League with an important 2-1 victory over Manchester United. Notably, this was a match where they had to play the entire second half with only 10 players.
Jacob Ramsey was sent off in a controversial situation before Anthony Gordon opened the score from the penalty spot. However, Casemiro managed to equalize for Man United in the last minutes of injury time in the first half. The turning point came in the 90th minute, when substitute player Will Osula scored his first goal since September last year, bringing 3 valuable points for Newcastle.
Currently ranked 12th in the rankings and 9 points behind the top 6 when the season is only 9 rounds left, Eddie Howe's team still has a lot of work to do if they want to win a European Cup spot next season. In that context, they also have to distribute their strength for the Champions League and FA Cup.
The Carabao Cup champion last season also stopped early in this tournament after losing to Man City with a total score of 1-5 in the semi-finals. Two weeks ago, Newcastle continued to lose 1-2 to Man City in the Premier League.
If they beat Newcastle in the FA Cup, Man City could become the third team to eliminate the "Magpies" from both the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup in the same season, after Wimbledon in the 1987-1988 season and Arsenal in the 2007-2008 season. However, Newcastle also has a fairly good record in the 5th round of the FA Cup when passing this round in 9 of the last 10 times, including two victories against Man City in the 1994-1995 and 2001-2002 seasons.
While Newcastle had just regained the joy of victory, Man City dropped points in the Premier League when they were held to a 2-2 draw by Nottingham Forest. Elliot Anderson - a player believed to be City's transfer target - scored the equalizer in the 76th minute.
This result caused Pep Guardiola's team to be 7 points behind league leaders Arsenal, even though they still have one match to play. The championship race is therefore gradually leaning towards Mikel Arteta's team, although there is still a possibility of surprises in the late season.
Before entering the difficult confrontation with Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 next week, Man City will face Newcastle for the 11th time in the FA Cup. The Manchester team once eliminated Newcastle in the 2019-2020 and 2023-2024 seasons, although they only won two of the first eight encounters in this tournament.
Man City also has an extremely impressive record in the FA Cup, winning 18 of the last 20 matches in the last four seasons. They have only lost in two consecutive finals against Manchester United (2024) and Crystal Palace (2025).
In the third, fourth and fifth rounds of the FA Cup, Guardiola's team has won 23 consecutive matches since the 2017-2018 season, scoring 89 goals and conceding only 11 times.
This season, Newcastle has defeated two Premier League teams, Bournemouth and Aston Villa, to advance to the 5th round. Meanwhile, Man City successively defeated Exeter City (10-1) and Salford City (2-0).
Personnel situation
Newcastle will not have Jacob Ramsey in this match due to suspension. Besides, Bruno Guimaraes (hamstring), Fabian Schar (ankle), Emil Krafth (knee) and Lewis Miley (leg) are still in the process of recovering from injuries and will definitely be absent.
This match may also come too early for Tino Livramento as this defender has not fully recovered from his hamstring injury.
On Man City's side, Josko Gvardiol (broken tibia) and Mateo Kovacic (ankle/foot) are still on long-term leave. Nico O'Reilly also missed the draw with Nottingham Forest after suffering an ankle injury in the victory over Leeds.
Expected lineup:
Pope, Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Burn, Willock, Tonali, Joelinton, Elanga, Gordon, Barnes.
Manchester City: Trafford, Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, Ait-Nouri, Lewis, Gonzalez, Bernardo, Cherki, Semenyo, Marmoush.
The match between Newcastle and Man City takes place at 3:00 AM on March 8th (Vietnam time).
