Newcastle United face Manchester City at The Etihad at 6pm in The Premier League still disappointed at the manner of their FA Cup Quarter Final exit ten days ago.

After setting up in a more defensive formation that the one which gained The Magpies a point in a pulsating 2-2 draw at St. James' Park in November, the Cup game hinged on two Newcastle mistakes, a needless penalty given away by Fabian Schar & a Dwight Gayle miss, that were ruthlessly punished.

Now they have a third chance to beat one of the best teams in the land for their first away win at Man City since Alan Pardew's black and whites achieved the feat in October, 2014 in The Capital One Cup thanks to goals from Rolando Aarons & Moussa Sissoko.

Alan Pardew gambled on youth for that famous win starting 19 year-old Aarons and also 17 year-old Geordie striker Adam Armstrong, who scored this excellent goal last night for Blackburn Rovers against Carlisle United:

Its a goal that has rightly been instantly compared to Che Adams' winner against Man City on Sunday which could well hold the key to how to beat the 2018/9 Champions.

Pep Guardiola's Man City like to play it out from the back and are vulnerable to a high pressing game that forces mistakes and in Southampton's case, famous victories, watched by a record high for a Premier League game of 5.7 million people on BBC1.

Its exactly the high press that Newcastle used away to Bournemouth in the 4-1 victory last week and while naturally the quality of opponent is different tonight, the principle remains and the player who helped Newcastle seize the initiative early on at The Vitality Stadium was Sean Longstaff, whose hard forward running, tackling and pressing in the no. 10 role forced the mistake for the first goal before he notched the second.

Unfortunately Longstaff the elder had to go off injured after 33 minutes but if Newcastle have a like-for-like replacement for any player in their squad then its Matty Longstaff to replace his brother.

Recall what Bruce said about the younger Longstaff in pre-season when Matty burst onto the scene and forced his way into Bruce's thinking and first team squad:

"He’s got boundless enthusiasm. We’ve seen a little bit of him – he scored that great goal against St Etienne when he came on...
I think he is ready. He’s good enough.
“He’s bright, he’s tenacious, can score a goal – he’s got all the stuff you need to succeed. He’s got a huge desire to do well, like his brother.”

after cementing his growing reputation with a phenomenal strike with practically his first touch at St. James' Park in a first-team shirt moments after coming on:

Since then, Matty Longstaff has only been played very sparingly by Bruce out of a desire to protect the player and his side but what an impact he has made when he has had a chance scoring the winner at home against Man United on his Premier League debut:

then amazingly following it up with a goal at Old Trafford on Boxing Day and a further strike in The FA Cup at home to Rochdale to excite Geordie fans at his potential.

Since Project Restart began, the junior Longstaff brother has only appeared once - against Man City in the FA Cup coming on as a 79th minute substitute for Isaac Hayden - but with Newcastle's safety mathematically secured and five games left to play, who better to give game time to and persuade to sign his new contract?

After the buzz about the Longstaff brothers emerging through the ranks together warmed the hearts of every football fan in what is often a soulless game, a contract stand-off has sadly developed between club and player.

Yet surely after the glow-up of the last few weeks in which Newcastle are scoring goals and winning games again, keeping the good feeling going on Tyneside by securing "one of our own" must be a priority in the thinking of everyone at the club, a stance seen as paramount by football purist observers from the outside like journalist Henry Winter:

With so much of life up in the air at the moment including the NUFC takeover, it would be a crying shame if a super-talented local player was allowed to leave for any reason at all so Steve Bruce has five games to reassure the youngster he is a firm part of his future plans & will be given the necessary game time starting in these last five games. HWTL