Man City vs Newcastle live early team news plus kick-off time and how to watch

Manchester City can take a big step towards qualifying for the Champions League next season by beating Newcastle to cement their top five credentials.

City enter the weekend in fifth place following their most recent Premier League defeat to Arsenal, with Newcastle behind them in sixth only on goal difference. Fifth is likely to be enough to qualify for the Champions League next season, but there is competition for those places with just three points separating fourth and seventh.

Manu Akanji and Jack Grealish are injury doubts after coming off in the defeat to Real Madrid on Tuesday, while Pep Guardiola could rest some of his starters in the first leg ahead of the reverse trip to the Bernabeu on Wednesday.

Today's game is not broadcast live on UK television, so follow below for pre-match build-up, live match updates and post-match reaction from the Etihad.

If nothing else, you have to hand it to Richard Masters and the Premier League for being a living, breathing version of Sideshow Bob stepping on rakes.

When Manchester City warned them in December 2021 that the Associated Party Transaction rules they were proposing were anticompetitive and procedurally unfair, they went ahead with them anyway. When City warned them in February 2024 that proposed amendments were unlawful, they went ahead with them anyway.

When an independent tribunal agreed with City in September 2024, the Premier League told anyone who would listen that the tribunal had in fact 'endorsed' them and pushed through new amendments against the legal advice of City and without the full verdict from the tribunal. And now that the tribunal has declared that the APT rules are 'void and unenforceable', the Premier League have again put their fingers in their