De Bruyne helps City snatch a 2-3 away win over Newcastle.
The Belgian scores a goal and provides an assist in his first Premier League game since August.
Ederson, Kyle Walker, Nathan Ake, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Jérémy Doku return to City’s starting line-up for the 5-0 cup win over Huddersfield.
As early as the second minute, the ball flows into Ederson’s goal. Kieran Trippier from his own half of the pitch makes a pass forward to Alexander Issak, who breaks into the penalty area on the right side and shoots into the centre of the area to Sean Longstaff, who hits the target. Fortunately for the visitors, the VAR system detects the offside, but the bad news for them is that Ederson is injured in a collision with an opponent and is replaced by Stefan Ortega.
With the scare over, City begin to pile on the pressure. Newcastle fall back deep and eventually concede. In the 26th minute Walker shoots from the right flank and Bernardo Silva shoots with his heel from the edge of the box — 0:1.
The Cityzens continue to press desperately, but The Magpies withstand this onslaught, and in the 35th minute they launch a counterattack. Bruno Guimaraes brilliantly sends forward Isak, who enters the penalty area and strikes from under Walker — 1:1.
Two minutes later, Gordon breaks into the penalty area from the left flank, dribbles past Walker and curls the ball into the far corner of the goal — 2:1.
The hosts are encouraged and in the rest of the first half they never stopped attacking. Stefan Ortega, who replaced Ederson, saves his team twice. But the visitors’ game in front of the goal is falling apart.
In the second half there is no such reckless football. Newcastle concentrate on maintaining their advantage, while City rely on positional play.
It’s worth noting that City’s combinations regularly end in shots, but Dubravka is error-free, and sometimes the visitors miss themselves.
The substitute Kevin de Bruyne helps City to turn the game around, as in the 73rd minute he moves forward and strikes a billiard shot from the edge of the penalty area — 2:2.
The rest of the match is spent in attack and in the penalty time they are rewarded for their efforts. De Bruyne throws the ball into the box to Oscar Bobb, who eludes Kieran Trippier and hits the target from outside the box — 2:3.
The teams play two different halves, but overall this is an extremely entertaining match. A serene start turns into a nightmare for City, but they come out of it with honour and pick up an important three points.