It is up to Newcastle United to try and end Manchester City’s impressive run of results and at the same time revive their bid for European places.

The Citizens will, however, fancy their chances of winning at St James’ Park having won last five and eight of last nine league matches.

This season has been a far cry from last term and I mean that in the best possible sense, with the team that narrowly avoided the drop now vying for European positions.

Newcastle have been going really strong until recently, hinting they could even mount a serious top 6 challenge, but they are clearly going through a rough patch at the moment.

Back to back Premier League defeats to Arsenal and West Bromwich acted as a serious blow to the players’ confidence, while the Magpies could have done without the 2-1 home defeat to Cardiff City in FA Cup third round.

This means Alan Pardew’s side go into the Manchester City clash on the back of three consecutive losses, so no wonder home win pays 5.50 (9/2).

Newcastle will have problems at the back given that Fabricio Coloccini and Mathieu Debuchy miss out through injury and suspension respectively, but there were some good news for Alan Pardew as well.

Key players Tim Krul and Yohan Cabaye appear to have recovered from their respective ailments, and they are expected to start.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Krul – Santon, Williamson, Yanga-Mbiwa, Haidara – Cabaye, Tiote – Gouffran, Sissoko, Remy – Ameobi.

Manchester City may have experienced some problems during the opening exchanges, but they have seriously raised their form of late and now look like the most likely candidates to win the Premier League title.

The Citizens are also doing well in other competitions, having all but secured their place in the Capital One Cup final, while still vying for Champions League and FA Cup trophies.

And even if they currently sit one point behind league leaders Arsenal, most people agree Manchester City have really set the Premiership alight this season.

Seeing as how they are currently on a five-match winning run in the league, the Citizens are 1.73 (8/11) favourites to extend the winning run at St James’ Park.

And having scored 57 goals in 20 Premier League fixtures, 11 more than the second-best scoring team, Manuel Pellegrini’s side are priced at 1.62 (5/8) to score two goals or more against Newcastle.

Yaya Toure, Jesus Navas and Micah Richards are all fit to play, but Sergio Aguero, Stevan Jovetic and Jack Rodweel are out injured.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Hart – Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic, Kolarov – Toure, Fernandinho – Navas, Silva, Nasri – Negredo.