Newcastle United secured a thrilling 2-1 win against Manchester City at St James' Park. Harvey Barnes, despite an early miss, scored both goals for Newcastle. Manchester City aimed to close the gap on
Arsenal in the Premier League standings but faltered. Both teams missed several opportunities in the first half, with Barnes and Erling Haaland notably failing to convert key chances.
In the opening moments, Barnes shot directly at Gianluigi Donnarumma after intercepting a poor pass. Later, he missed Jacob Murphy's cross with an open goal ahead. Meanwhile, Donnarumma made crucial saves to deny Nick Woltemade twice. Haaland also struggled, misjudging a lob over Nick Pope and hitting a cutback straight at him.
Newcastle broke the deadlock in the 63rd minute when Barnes elegantly placed a shot into the bottom-left corner from 20 yards. This goal opened up the game further. Ruben Dias equalised five minutes later with a deflected volley off Fabian Schar. However, Newcastle responded swiftly as Bruno Guimaraes hit the post, allowing Barnes to score again after a lengthy VAR review confirmed no offside or foul on Donnarumma.
2 - Harvey Barnes is the first Newcastle player to score twice in a Premier League game against Manchester City since Alan Shearer in November 2003, with tonight being their 40th meeting in the competition since Shearer's brace. Catalyst.pic.twitter.com/pj9HPMgNvvOptaJoe (@OptaJoe)November 22, 2025
City had another chance to level when Savinho missed over the bar. With this result, City could trail Arsenal by seven points by weekend's end, while Newcastle climbed to 14th place after recovering from two consecutive losses.
This victory marked Eddie Howe's first Premier League win over Pep Guardiola after 16 unsuccessful attempts (two draws and 14 losses). It was a significant achievement for Howe as no manager had faced another so many times without winning before.
The first half saw seven 'big' chances according to Opta (four for Newcastle and three for City) and an expected goals (xG) total of 2.59 (Newcastle 1.18, City 1.41). These figures represent records for big chances since 2010-11 and non-penalty xG since 2012-13 in a goalless first half of a Premier League match.
