Newcastle United 2-1 Manchester City: Barnes double decides St James' Park thriller

Newcastle United earned an entertaining 2-1 victory over Manchester City at St James' Park, with Harvey Barnes recovering from a glaring miss to score both of their goals.

Pep Guardiola's side arrived on Tyneside knowing a victory would put them just a point behind Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table, ahead of the Gunners' clash with rivals Tottenham on Sunday.

But both teams misfired in the first half, with Barnes and Erling Haaland the guiltiest parties as several golden chances were passed up.

Barnes shot straight at Gianluigi Donnarumma after intercepting the Italian's errant pass after just 28 seconds, then somehow turned Jacob Murphy's cross wide of a gaping net just after the half-hour mark. Between those two openings, Donnarumma made two strong saves to keep Nick Woltemade at bay.

Haaland, who is still chasing his 100th Premier League goal, miscued when attempting to lob Nick Pope before striking Nico O'Reilly's cutback straight at the fortunate shot-stopper.

And it was Newcastle that made the breakthrough in the 63rd minute as Barnes placed a classy finish into the bottom-left corner from 20 yards out, and that goal opened the floodgates.

Ruben Dias equalised five minutes later as his volley squirmed in via a deflection off Fabian Schar, but Newcastle hit straight back within two further minutes.

Bruno Guimaraes nodded against the woodwork, but Barnes was in the right place at the right time to hook home, with the goal surviving a lengthy VAR check for a possible offside and a potential foul on Donnarumma.

Savinho blazed over when presented with the best chance to make it 2-2, and City could now end the weekend seven points adrift of Arsenal in third. Newcastle move up to 14th in the table, having responded to back-to-back defeats. 

Data Debrief: Howe ends Guardiola hoodoo 

Saturday's victory was a landmark result for Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, as he finally beat Guardiola in the Premier League at the 17th attempt (previously two draws, 14 losses). That was the most times any manager had ever faced another in the competition without achieving a single win.

The first half of Saturday's game contained seven Opta-defined 'big' chances (four for Newcastle, three for City), as well as a total expected goals (xG) figure of 2.59 (Newcastle 1.18, City 1.41).

That is the most big chances on record (since 2010-11) and the second-highest non-penalty xG figure on record (since 2012-13) in a goalless first half in the Premier League.

Barnes finally got the scoring going in the second half, and he is the first Newcastle player to net twice in a Premier League game against City since Alan Shearer in November 2003.