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12 min: \u2026 so having said that, City nearly make it two, Reijnders swivelling down the inside left and whipping a high cross-cum-shot across goal that Ramsdale does very well to fingertip away. The ball may even have shaved the right-hand post as it flew wide. It\u2019s been an entertaining start; this competition owed us something after last night. Quits already.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n 11 min: Newcastle have clearly decided that they may as well go for it now. Trippier hares down the right and loops long for Woltemade in the middle, but Trafford is able to sort out the situation again. A decent response to such a painful early blow.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 9 min: A huge chance for Newcastle to immediately get back into the tie. Gordon spins into space down the right. It\u2019s two on one in the middle! Gordon rolls a pass infield for Willock, who tries to round Trafford but fails, and the keeper claims. A fine save, but had Willock flicked the ball further left, Hall was on hand to roll home.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.11 EST<\/p>\n GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Newcastle United (Marmoush 7); agg 3-0<\/p>\n \u2026 and all that early possession suddenly pays dividend! Marmoush breaks into space down the inside-left channel, Burn playing him on in the middle. Burn comes across and telescopes a leg to block a shot, but the ball rebounds back onto Marmoush, then over Ramsdale and into the net. Newcastle\u2019s grip on their cup further loosened in short order.<\/p>\n Tie over? Omar Marmoush scores for City. Photograph: Alex Livesey\/Danehouse\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.14 EST<\/p>\n 6 min: Newcastle can\u2019t get any meaningful time on the ball at all. When they do momentarily snaffle it, Thiaw Gordon instantly hands it back.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 5 min: Newcastle can\u2019t get any meaningful time on the ball at all. When they do momentarily snaffle it, Thiaw instantly hands it back. An early pattern set.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 3 min: City get hold of the ball and keep it awhile. No mean feat seeing how crowded the middle of the park is.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 1 min: Trippier\u2019s first act of the evening is a fine block of O\u2019Reilly\u2019s shot, the City man having drifted in from the left.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Newcastle get the game started. They\u2019re chasing down a two-goal deficit.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The teams are out! Manchester City in their famous sky blue, Newcastle United<\/a> in their equally storied black and white stripes. City kept their visitors waiting in the tunnel for four minutes before eventually deigning to emerge from their dressing room. Toon captain Kieran Trippier\u2019s face was a picture, slipping back and forth between mild amusement and Roy Keanesque fury. A few of Trippier\u2019s buttons were pressed in combination there, so let\u2019s see whether that little prank was a good idea or not. We\u2019ll be off in a minute.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Post-match optimism, in that singular Newcastle United<\/a> style. \u201cReally hoping our Milk Cup title defence doesn\u2019t go too sour here, as I need to front up to this morning\u2019s work breakfast\/social in a mood that passes for professional,\u201d begins Chris Paraskevas promisingly.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately I had to reveal the reason I\u2019d potentially be late to said breakfast in front of our entire team yesterday, the explanation going something like this: \u2018Boss: I could be about 15-45 minutes late. Chances are I\u2019ll head around at half-time because Lewis Hall will have suffered a season-ending injury and we\u2019ll be down four-nil. But if we go to extra time I\u2019ll shoot you a text and let you know. In any case, there\u2019s no way we\u2019re winning this one so I\u2019ll see you guys there. This is a pretty important game: it\u2019s the League Cup semi-final – we\u2019re defending champions!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAt this point, a little colour drained from my supervisor\u2019s face and you could literally hear tumbleweeds. Don\u2019t think she was too impressed. I so really need Eddie Howe to do me a solid and get Aaron Ramsdale to throw the game early, otherwise I might get sacked.\u201d<\/p>\n (You may be interested to know that Chris\u2019s email carried the heading \u201cMy boss thinks I\u2019m an idiot.\u201d Well, we\u2019ve all been there once or twice in our lives, haven\u2019t we.)<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Pep Guardiola \u2013 who is four from four in previous League Cup semi-finals, seeing off Bristol City, Burton Albion and Manchester United (twice) at this stage \u2013 talks to Sky. \u201cThe first season [of his City reign] we were out pretty quick, but after we make four in a row \u2026 [eyes twinkle] like the Premier League! [laughs] \u2026 we are back today in the semi-final \u2026 we start the game 2-0 \u2026 but Newcastle look to yesterday, and Chelsea-Arsenal are always tight games, so it won\u2019t be an exception today \u2026 the best way to defend a result like this is to score more goals \u2026 go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Eddie Howe stays positive on Sky. \u201cA big task for us today \u2026 the start of the game will be massive \u2026 we\u2019ve got to bring good energy \u2026 body language \u2026 positive intentions \u2026 try to impose ourselves \u2026 if we\u2019re at our very best we can give them problems \u2026 we need to see really good energy \u2026 [our away form] has been mixed \u2026 we have been really good in some games and not so good in others \u2026 we\u2019re searching for the formula we need to produce consistent results.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Hope For Newcastle dept. Not only are Manchester City<\/a> two goals to the good, they\u2019re also coming into this match in a better frame of mind than their opponents. Shipping a two-goal lead at Tottenham may not be ideal, but it\u2019s a whole lot better than dominating Liverpool for half an hour before crumbling to a 4-1 defeat. So the hosts are strong favourites to progress to the final against Arsenal. However, here\u2019s what happened the last time City and Toon met at the Etihad in the League Cup \u2026<\/p>\n \u2026 so should Newcastle pull off another result like that tonight, we\u2019ll be headed to 30 minutes of extra time and penalties! It\u2019s something of a long shot, mind you: that match also stands as Newcastle\u2019s last win at the Etihad, since when they\u2019ve made 11 visits and lost every single time, to the cumulative tune of 37-3. For the record, their last goal here was scored by DeAndre Yedlin in September 2018. So yes, that concludes our Hope For Newcastle section. Erm.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Manchester City make four changes to the side they named for the first leg at St James\u2019 Park three weeks ago. Omar Marmoush, Rayan A\u00eft-Nouri, Nico Gonz\u00e1lez and Tijjani Reijnders take the places of Erling Haaland and Max Alleyne, who drop to the bench, and Bernardo Silva and J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku, who miss out altogether.<\/p>\n Newcastle make six changes from the first leg. Aaron Ramsdale, Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn, Sandro Tonali, Joe Willock and Nick Woltemade start; Nick Pope, Jacob Murphy and Yoane Wissa are on the bench as a result, while Joelinton, Lewis Miley and captain Bruno Guimar\u00e3es are absent.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>The teams: Haaland benched, Woltemade starts<\/p>\n Manchester City: Trafford, Nunes, Khusanov, Ake, O\u2019Reilly, Gonzalez, Semenyo, Foden, Reijnders, Ait Nouri, Marmoush. Newcastle United: Ramsdale, Thiaw, Botman, Burn, Trippier, Ramsey, Tonali, Hall, Willock, Woltemade, Gordon. Referee: Tony Harrington (Cleveland).<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.21 EST<\/p>\n Preamble<\/p>\n We could do with this game being more entertaining than last night\u2019s overly mannered offering at the Emirates. Like Arsenal, in their first cup final for six years, will care about anyone\u2019s opinion of that. Still, here we are, and the chances of high drama aren\u2019t great, seeing Newcastle are two goals down and away at Manchester City<\/a>, who Eddie Howe has faced 20 times in his managerial career and lost on 17 of those occasions. But his side did notch a rare win over City three months ago, and Newcastle have knocked them out of the League Cup twice in the last 11 seasons, so there is precedent to clutch at, albeit in straw form. This could be over quite quickly, though if the Toon score first, well, then, let\u2019s see. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It, like the VAR at the semi-final stage of this competition, is on.<\/p>\n
Subs: Donnarumma, Dias, Haaland, Cherki, Rodri, Nypan, McAidoo, Alleyne, Lewis.<\/p>\n
Subs: Pope, Wissa, Barnes, Osula, Elanga, Jacob Murphy, Alex Murphy, Shahar, Neave.<\/p>\n