Man City handed boost as £39m man ruled out for Newcastle United but in-form forward faces late fitness test

Last season’s treble winners Manchester City are aiming to become the first team since Chelsea in 2010 to win the FA Cup in two consecutive seasons. Pep Guardiola’s men come against a Newcastle United team, who have so far looked a shadow of the one which gate-crashed the Champions League places last term.

The Magpies have been hindered by an avalanche of injuries throughout the campaign and those problems showed no sign of decreasing ahead of their highly-anticipated trip to the Etihad Stadium.

One player who has been particularly susceptible to injuries this season has been marquee signing Harvey Barnes. The 26-year-old, who lifted the FA Cup with Leicester in 2021, had only recently recovered from a long-term injury which ruled him out for four months between October and February.

Barnes made his return by scoring off the bench in a 4-4 draw with Luton and has slowly been eased back into the action. He was a surprise omission from Newcastle’s recent defeat to Chelsea, and has been ruled out of the trip to the North West with a hamstring injury. Eddie Howe told Newcastle World: “Harvey won’t make the squad (tomorrow) but we hope he will be back for West Ham.”

Barnes played a key role in Leicester’s shock 5-2 victory over the Citizens back in 2021 and will be one less threat for the City defence to deal with in their quarter-final tie.

City boast a strong record against Newcastle, particularly in home games, and have been beaten by the Magpies just twice in the last 24 years. Their last home defeat was a 2-0 League Cup loss to Alan Pardew’s team in 2014, while before that fans have to go back to the days of Kevin Keegan and Bobby Robson to find Newcastle’s last away league win over the Citizens in 2000.

The Sky Blues have won two of their three clashes this year in all competitions - doing the double over the Magpies in the league and losing at St James’ Park in the FA Cup. The most recent meeting came in January, when a Kevin De Bruyne goal and assist inspired City to a 3-2 win in the North East.

Anthony Gordon, who scored against Manchester City in that fixture, faces a late fitness test ahead of the game. The former Everton man sustained an injury against Chelsea on Monday, but has trained with the Magpies since then. Howe hopes his injury is not as bad as first feared.

“We train again today so we will do a full session and we’ll make a judgement after that.” Howe told reporters

Elsewhere, the Magpies are also without first choice shotstopper Nick Pope, right back Kieran Trippier, midfielder Joelinton and striker Callum Wilson. Summer signing Sandro Tonali has also missed nearly the entirety of the season through a gambling related suspension.