Newcastle v Manchester City - our thoughts

Ahead of tomorrow night's match-up with City, we were quizzed by a few university sports journalism students on our thoughts on Newcastle and their chances.

After being asked a series of questions regarding Tuesday night, we figured we may as well place our answers here for you all to enjoy.

So here we go...

How are you feeling ahead of tomorrow’s game?

More confident than I thought I’d be. Our 3-0 win against Swansea certainly gives us some hope but we know it won’t be easy after the way the Citizens took apart Chelsea at the weekend.

After a much needed victory over Swansea City, how much confidence does this give the players ahead of tomorrow?

It will be huge. It’s our first win under Rafa and you got the feeling things were really starting to come together for the lads at St James’ Park. Without sounding hyberbolic, last week’s win could be the catalyst for something good.

How will the Magpies line-up? Who will play and in what formation?

I imagine it will be pretty similar to last Saturday. Rafa will stick with two holding midfielders to give the back four extra protection (Colback and Tiote maybe?) and after starting Mitrovic on the bench at the weekend, I imagine he will probably get a start on Tuesday night.

You haven’t beat Manchester City at home since 2005, why do you think it stretches back this far?

The money of Sheikh Mansour and incompetence of Mike Ashley. Next.

How do you think Newcastle should approach this?

Although we kept a clean sheet against Swansea, I still don’t have too much faith in our back four. We should start cautiously for the first 20 minutes then take the game to them – we have no other option!

Where will the key battles take place? Who should both sides be wary of?

The Man City back four looked very solid against PSG last week and I imagine Mitro will have his work cut out tomorrow night. And whilst I’ve been suitably impressed by youngster Jamaal Lascelles recently, marking Sergio Aguero will certainly be a good litmus test of how far he’s come should Benitez start him at centre back.

What are your score predictions?

As ever the optimistic Magpies, I’m going go for a 1-1 draw.

Where do you think both teams will finish this season? Do you think avoiding relegation is still possible, despite still having to play Liverpool and Spurs?

If I had a gun to my head, I’d still say we’re going down but of course hope I’m proved wrong. City will likely finish third.