Ramsdale 8 - Made some cracking saves in this match, I feel he’s made up somewhat for his brain dead behaviour against Southampton a couple of weeks ago
White - 7 - Solid, Newcastle got far more joy down Zinchenko’s side
Kiwior 7 - Not in the class of Saliba but decent defender
Gabriel 7 - Composed and solid
Zinchenko 4 - I’m glad Arteta had the good sense to take him off
Jorginho 9 - Managed to up his performance from Chelsea, has actually far exceeded what I expected of him
Xhaka 8 - Uncharacteristically generous of me but after being caught dawdling at the start, put in a proper shift
Odegaard 8 - Competing with Martinelli for most improved player this season
Martinelli 7 - Maybe should have scored but definitely one of our bigger attacking threats
Jesus 6 - Bit quiet, the menace he provides in the box has dissipated from early on this season
Saka 6.5 - Not quite enough impact on the game to merit a 7. Still think he needs to be dropped (mainly cos he looks spent)
Subs
Tierney 8 - Why isn’t he starting
Partey 7 - Solid substitution
Trossard 7 - Added solidity to the game when defending our two goal lead
Nelson + Nketiah 6 - Did not have enough game time to have any impact, but they were there to replace tired legs to see the game out
We’ve seen Newcastle destroy teams at St James Park with their relentless pace, energy and aggression. We rode our luck at the start otherwise it could have happened to us, but after that good fortune we made the most of things and put in a performance that shows we want to keep going to the end.
Lot of character that looked missing at the Etihad was on show here today, and it’s no surprise that we’ve kept ten clean sheets away from home.