The Magpies head into the English top-flight encounter in good spirits following an emphatic 5-1 home victory against Aston Villa last weekend and take on Pep Guardiola’s side, targeting an unprecedented fourth successive Premier League title, in their first league away fixture of the 2023/24 campaign (kick-off 8pm BST).

Summer signings Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes both made an immediate impact against the Villans, with both netting on their Premier League debuts for the club, whilst Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson - who netted a total of 28 Premier League goals between the pair last season - both got off the mark after the former scored a brace whilst the England international scored from the substitutes’ bench.

Here are some of the main talking points from the boss’ pre-match media briefing at the Magpies’ Benton-based training ground on Friday morning ahead of facing the trophy-laden Sky Blues...

On striking duo Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson and his decision to select Isak over Wilson against Villa:

“Very difficult. I think that was one of those calls that I didn’t look forward to making out of my love for Callum. My relationship with him is very strong. I’ve known him a long, long time and he’s been outstanding for me as a manager, from the start of our journey together to now.

“I respect him so to make those calls, when you have to disappoint someone you love, is very difficult but I had to do what I had to do for the team and make a call between one of those two players. Fortunately, the good thing is Alex performed really well and so did Callum when he came on the pitch.

“They both scored, I’m sure they would have both gone home happy to have got off the mark for the season. I think as a striker, you want that first goal as quickly as possible.

“You have to take a longer-term vision of our season. We have games coming up during the months of September and especially Christmas when there’s games all over the place. We’re not going to have a problem giving players opportunities. We need to keep rotating the team to keep everyone fresh.”

On facing treble winners Manchester City, who lifted the UEFA Super Cup after beating Europa League winners Sevilla on Wednesday:

“I think it consolidated a lot of what I already thought of Manchester City. They are the standard bearers and have been for a long time in the Premier League of where other teams need to get to.

“I saw a team hugely motivated to win which is the biggest compliment I can pay the team off the back of winning the treble and everything that brings.

“They went into a tough game and were desperate to win. You could see their reactions afterwards so this is a team that will not be complacent. They will be ready for us so we expect a really good game.”

On the trip to the Etihad Stadium, targeting a first away win against the seven-time Premier League champions since a 2-0 League Cup triumph in October 2014:

“We want our players to go there with all the positive emotions that our first game of this season should bring. We’re looking at this game as an opportunity for us to be at our best.

“We have to concentrate on Manchester City’s strengths and have to try and stop those but we also have to be ourselves. We want to become a top team, consistently, in the Premier League and I think to do that, we have to have a clear identity ourselves and try to implement that on other teams.

“I want a positive mindset, not just for the supporters, but for the players and let’s see what we can do."

On Sandro Tonali, who scored within six minutes of his Premier League debut against Villa, following his transfer from AC Milan last month:

“The start is hugely important because I think it just settles everybody down. You can see when he scored, the emotion coming out and then the rest of his performance followed that goal where he was excellent.

“Now, he’ll hopefully feel the love of the supporters, there’ll be an instant connection between him and them - that can only help him.

“He’s settled in really well and he is part of the group. He’s built some really good friendships and relationships which is important when you go into a new dressing room. You want to find people you can identify and get along with and that certainly helps settle you on a football pitch.”

On Isak, with the Swedish forward nearing a year since completing a club-record transfer to St. James’ Park from Real Sociedad:

“I think he’s coped with the move really well, especially when you consider he had an injury early on which was a hugely frustrating period for him because he was determined to try and do well and show everyone how good he was.

“He had to wait a little bit of time after a really good first impression but I think he’s dealt with the move, the price tag and everything that comes with that and taken it all in his stride.

“It might have helped him that he had a couple of moves previously before coming here so he had that experience of doing that in different countries which shouldn’t be underestimated of how difficult that can be.

“He’s performing really well and he has done through pre-season so I’m hoping he’ll have a great season."

On selection headaches after three of his five substitutes against Villa contributed with either a goal or assist:

“I still have decisions to make because I’m not necessarily the type of manager that will look at a winning team and then automatically think, because we’ve won, pick the same team.

“For me, it’s always around what the game will be like, if we need a different way of playing so I’ll always analyse the game that way. I might end up picking the same team, I may not, but I’ll always look at it independently."