Manchester City defeated Newcastle United 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium to close the distance to Premier League leaders Arsenal to just two points—at least for a short while. The champions, who withstood a 10-minute spell of pressure from Eddie Howe's team but were otherwise untroubled en route to a straightforward victory, scored goals from Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva either side of the halftime siren.
Ilkay Gundogan had an opportunity in the first minute, and the Germany midfielder's header from Jack Grealish's cross ended up on the roof of the net, serving as a warning to the Magpies but one that they ignored. With 15 minutes remaining, Rodri sprayed a long pass to Foden on the right. The 22-year-old cut inside and then drove into the space left by the Newcastle defenders, despite their desperate efforts to stop him.
Foden charged into the penalty area, dodging a sea of black and white shirts, and unleashing a shot that was lucky to deflect off Sven Botman and fly past Nick Pope into the goal. When this happened, the revitalised Foden (33 goals, 17 assists) became the youngest player in Man City history to achieve 50 Premier League goal involvements. Newcastle's attempts to find an immediate retort were ineffective.
To the delight of their supporters, Newcastle would nevertheless regularly threaten City's goal early in the second half, but their fleeting window of opportunity was ended in the 67th minute. High up on the field, City regained possession of the ball, and a deft flick from Haaland located substitute Silva, who scored the game-winning goal two minutes and 12 seconds after entering the game. As a result of Newcastle's inability to capitalise on their brief burst of pressure, Silva's goal seemed to drain their energy, and they are grateful to Pope for saving low from Foden in the 86th minute after a lovely play from City.