Given Newcastle suffered their fourth defeat in five matches and Manchester City having lost local derby to United, both teams will have something to prove at St James Park.

Newcastle were never really going to repeat the fifth-place finish from last season, but not even the most pessimistic of fans could have predicted Alan Pardew’s side would be involved in the relegation tussle.

Numerous injuries to the playing squad showed everyone that the Magpies lack quality cover for the likes of Cabaye and Ben Arfa, while Pardew’s decision to play Papiss Cisse on the wing certainly did not help.

As a result, Newcastle struggled to hit the ground running in the early exchanges and have now slipped to 14th place in the standings.

Four defeats in last five games should serve as a wake-up call before the clash with Manchester City, but odds of 5.80 (24/5) offered at Stan James on home win suggest the hosts are in for another difficult encounter.

With none of the injured players ready to return, Alan Pardew has hinted he could field the same line-up that started the Fulham game on Monday. Hatem Ben Arfa is doubtful with a hamstring problem.

Yohan Cabaye, Steven Taylor, Ryan Taylor, Gabriel Obertan, Dan Gosling and Haris Vuckic are all on the sidelines.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Krul – Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Santon – Anita, Tiote, Gutierrez – Cisse, Ba, Ben Arfa.

This is turning out to be a pretty disappointing season for Manchester City, who are already out of Europe and six points off the top of the Premier League.

The reality is that the Citizens have not been playing to their potential this season and unless they can show a considerable improvement soon, they will be effectively out of the title race.

Manchester City managed to produce a decent showing in the local derby against United and they even came from two goals down to level the score at 2-2, only to have Robin van Persie win the game for United deep into injury time.

With Manchester United hosting struggling Sunderland, City are aware they cannot afford to slip up at St James Park, although I don’t see much value in odds of 1.67 (2/3) offered at BetFred on away win.

Roberto Mancini’s side are also 1.67 (2/3) with Ladbrokes to score two or more for the second time in a row.

Captain Vincent Kompany is a major doubt with a hamstring injury, while Gareth Barry is suspended for one match.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Hart – Zabaleta, K. Toure, Nastasic, Clichy – Garcia, Y. Toure – Silva, Nasri, Tevez – Aguero.