Preview: Newcastle United vs. Manchester City

Newcastle United will line up against Premier League champions Manchester City without five of their first-team squad.

New signing Siem de Jong will be absent, as will Cheick Tiote and Davide Santon, while long-term injury victims Papiss Cisse and Ryan Taylor are still a significant amount of time away from a return to action.

However, Magpies boss Alan Pardew is expected to hand debuts to Daryl Janmaat, Jack Colback, Remy Cabella and Emmanuel Riviere.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini faces similar selection issues as he prepares his team for the visit to St James' Park.

Eight players were missing as City slumped to a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield, and while a number of the absentees will return, Alvaro Negredo, Eliaquim Mangala, and potentially Sergio Aguero, will miss out.

Stevan Jovetic and Edin Dzeko, who have been in fine form during pre-season, are expected to lead the line in the North-East.

Recent form

Newcastle United: LWDW

Manchester City: WDDL

Possible starting lineups

Newcastle United: Krul; Janmaat, Coloccini, Williamson, Haidara; Colback, Anita, Sissoko, Cabella; Riviere, Ferreyra

Manchester City: Hart; Clichy, Kompany, Nastasic, Kolarov; Fernando, Yaya Toure, Silva, Nasri; Jovetic, Dzeko

Sports Mole says: 1-2