City start their defence of the title this Sunday at St James Park where they take on Newcastle United. While City ended last season as Champions,Newcastle ended a very respectable 10th place.

Team News

Sergio Aguero is expected to miss the game as he fights his way back to fitness. City’s Eliaquin Mangala will definitely not feature with the defender only arriving at the club on Monday following his £32million move from Porto. Vincent Kompany, Joe Hart, Bacary Sagna, Fernandinho and Frank Lampard who all sat out last Sunday's Community Shield game are all back in contention.

Newcastle's summer signing Siem de Jong will be denied a debut on the opening weekend; the Ducthman instead joins Cheick Tiote and Papiss Cisse on Pardew’s injury list.

Stats

City have won their last nine league games against Newcastle, home and away.

Newcastle have lost seven of their last eight games while City finished last season with five wins.

This is the reverse of last season’s opening Barclays Premier League fixture when Newcastle United lost 0-4 at the Etihad Stadium.

City full backs Aleksandar Kolarov (7) and Pablo Zabaleta (6) assisted more goals than any other defenders in the 2013-14 Premier League.

Photo: Action Images

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