Match Report and Player Ratings: Manchester City 4-0 Newcastle United (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City cruised past Newcastle United and re-entered the top four with a comfortable 4-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

A 14-minute hat-trick from new January signing Omar Marmoush and a late goal from James McAtee topped off a fantastic performance from the Blues after a difficult week via defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

The game started slowly for Pep Guardiola’s side with nothing much of note in the opening 15 minutes, but a long ball from Ederson in the 18th minute found Omar Marmoush through on goal to dink the ball over the onrushing Martin Dubravka for his first City goal.

The floodgates had been opened at the Etihad Stadium as Marmoush netted his second shortly after the first bounced into the empty goal. Ilkay Gundogan played an intricate ball through to the Egyptian whose low effort snuck into the bottom corner to double his tally for the day.

The new number seven was really making a name for himself in the sky blue shirt as he scored his first hat-trick in just over half an hour. Savinho did all the hard work down the right side and found Marmoush in space to smash the ball in for his and City’s third in the first half.

It was the visitors who had the first chance of the second half forcing Ederson to make a save and punch away danger. Unlike the first 45 minutes, the second half was not littered with chances and the champions controlled the game to hold onto their three-goal advantage.

Second half substitute and academy graduate James McAtee netted Manchester City’s fourth goal of the afternoon from close range after a front post flick by Erling Haaland.

Despite the four-goal advantage, there was a look of worry across the Etihad as Haaland came off injured just minutes before the full-time whistle before appearing to move freely around the pitch after the contest.

Hopefully the Norwegian international recovers in time for Manchester City’s trip to the Santiago Bernabeu to attempt to overturn a 3-2 deficit against Real Madrid on Wednesday night. But before then, here is how we rated the individual performances this weekend!

Player Ratings

Starting XI

Ederson – 8

Provided an assist and was reliable when called upon in net.

Rico Lewis – 7.5

Useful in the transition and got back to defend when needed.

Abdukodir Khusanov – 7.5

Looked calm and confident on the ball. Looks to have settled now.

John Stones – 8.5

Lead the defence and was superb to stop the Newcastle attacks.

Josko Gvardiol – 7.5

Good on the ball on the left side. Always looked to go forward.

Ilkay Gundogan – 8.5

Great assist for the second goal and controlled the game.

Nico Gonzalez – 8

Worked really hard for the team and looked after the ball.

Phil Foden – 8

Always looked to create in the half spaces and make chances for the team.

Omar Marmoush – 9.5 (MOTM)

Scored his first hat-trick for the club and was remarkable for the whole game.

Savinho – 8.5

Didn’t have too much of the ball but was excellent when in possession. Great assist for the third goal.

Erling Haaland (C) – 8.5

Amazing hold-up play and it was nice to see him with the armband. Made life difficult for the defenders and got himself an assist.

Substitutes

Jeremy Doku – 7

Tried to add some pace into what was a dull second half.

James McAtee – 7.5

In the right place at the right time for his goal late in the game.

Matheus Nunes – N/A

Wasn’t on the pitch for long enough to make an impact but did okay.

Nico O’Reilly – N/A

Retained possession well in the last few minutes.

Mateo Kovacic – N/A

Controlled the ball to make for an easy last five minutes.