Newcastle made a statement at the weekend when they held Man City to a 1-1 draw at St James Park.

Josko Gvardiol put Man City ahead before half-time, with a neat finish from Grealish’s assist. It was advantage Pep and anyone who has watched this Man City team knows that sometimes when they go ahead they just keep coming and before you know it their opponents can be three or four goals down.

But Newcastle had a great spell of football after half-time and earned a well-deserved equaliser through an Anthony Gordon penalty.

Bruno Guimaraes cut City’s defence open with a pass, before Kyle Walker played Gordon in, going down to Ederson’s challenge. Gordon stepped up to the penalty spot and sent Ederson the wrong way to cooly give Newcastle the equaliser and ultimately earn a point.

Newcastle have only won one of their 34 Premier League games against Man City, and while they failed to make it two this was a signal that they have the quality and strength to go toe-to-toe with the top teams in the league this season. Their advantage is that they have no European football this time around, so Howe can fully focus on the league as well as the domestic cups.

There has been a lot of talk about how many games players have to prepare for in modern football and it has become an advantage for teams that have fewer games, so if Newcastle can keep their team fit and on good form they can make a serious challenge for top four again.

This will be the objective for Newcastle as they aim to continue building, and while it’s very early in the season the City result will give them confidence into the next stretch of games, like the one vs Everton because they play with a lot of passion and that is what Newcastle always had as well. But this game is away from home so let’s see who will bring more and is more than ready for this battle. #mmlove