Preview: Newcastle United vs Manchester City - prediction, team news, lineups

Newcastle United and Manchester City will clash at St James' Park on Tuesday in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final tie.

The Magpies are bidding to defend their 2024-25 EFL Cup triumph, while the Citizens are striving to reclaim the trophy for the first time since 2020-21.

Match preview

Newcastle finally ended their 70-year wait for a major trophy as they lifted the EFL Cup in 2024-25, with goals from Alexander Isak and Dan Burn handing the Magpies a stunning 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Wembley Stadium.

Eddie Howe's side have enjoyed an impressive defence of their title so far this campaign, comfortably defeating Bradford City 4-1 in the third round, beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the fourth round and narrowly progressing past Fulham 2-1 in the quarter-finals, thanks to a 92nd-minute winner from Lewis Miley.

Now faced with their toughest test of their EFL Cup defence, Newcastle will host Man City at St James' Park for the first leg of their semi-final tie, before travelling to the Etihad Stadium in early February for the second leg.

Newcastle do, however, have an impressive recent record against Man City, winning two, drawing one and losing one of their last four home meetings with the Citizens, while the Magpies have also defeated Man City in both of their last two EFL Cup encounters.

The Magpies also head into this semi-final in a fine run of form, boasting three wins and a draw in their last four outings - including a 7-6 penalty victory over Bournemouth - and they are also impressively undefeated at St James' Park in their last 13 games, with 10 wins and three draws.

Man City are similarly enjoying a fantastic run of results coming into this first leg fixture, unbeaten in their last 12 games with nine wins and three draws, including a sensational 10-1 demolition of Exeter City in their most recent outing.

Despite their superb form, Man City have struggled in this competition in recent seasons, suffering a round three exit in 2023-24, round four eliminations in 2021-22 and 2024-25 and a quarter-final defeat in 2022-23.

As a result, victories over Huddersfield Town (2-0), Swansea City (3-1) and Brentford (2-0) have taken Man City to their first EFL Cup semi-final since their remarkable run of four consecutive titles between 2017-18 and 2020-21, and they will be eager to go all the way and reclaim their trophy this season.

With their home leg of this semi-final encounter scheduled for early February, Pep Guardiola will be looking for his team to take a positive result from this leg back to the Etihad Stadium, meaning they will have to avoid a replica of their 2-1 away defeat to Newcastle in the Premier League in November 2025.

Man City's last win at St James' Park actually came exactly two years prior to this EFL Cup semi-final clash, when Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Oscar Bobb all scored in a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Magpies, featuring a 91st-minute winner from the young Norwegian winger.

Newcastle United EFL Cup form:

Newcastle United form (all competitions):

Manchester City EFL Cup form:

Manchester City form (all competitions):

Team News

Dan Burn, Emil Krafth, Fabian Schar, Jamaal Lascelles and William Osula are all unavailable due to injury issues, while Anthony Elanga is also a doubt due to a knock.

Harvey Barnes has scored four goals in his last two appearances for the Magpies, and the winger is likely to start alongside Anthony Gordon, Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa in Newcastle's front four.

In midfield, Bruno Guimaraes should replace Jacob Ramsey to start alongside Sandro Tonali, while a back four of Lewis Miley, Malick Thiaw, Sven Botman and Lewis Hall - who replaced the injured Valentino Livramento against Bournemouth - could start.

Man City are unable to call upon the services of John Stones, Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Dias, Savinho and Bobb due to ongoing injury problems.

Max Alleyne and Abdukodir Khusanov have started Man City's last two matches at centre-back and could continue their partnership against Newcastle, with Matheus Nunes and Nico O'Reilly likely to feature in the full-back positions.

Phil Foden was rested in Man City's emphatic win over Exeter and the forward could join Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders, Jeremy Doku and Erling Haaland in attack against the Magpies.

Newcastle United possible starting lineup:

Ramsdale; Miley, Thiaw, Botman, Hall; Tonali, Guimaraes; Gordon, Woltemade, Barnes; Wissa

Manchester City possible starting lineup:

Trafford; Nunes, Khusanov, Alleyne, O'Reilly; Gonzalez; Cherki, Foden, Reijnders, Doku; Haaland

We say: Newcastle United 2-2 Manchester City

Newcastle are enjoying an impressive run at St James' Park, while Man City are experiencing a lengthy unbeaten run across all competitions, leading us to expect a hard-fought encounter that we believe will end all square.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.