Manchester City beat Newcastle 1-0 at Etihad

Julian Alvarez 31st minute goal was enough to give league champion Man City all three points against Newcastle in Premier League late fixture on Saturday night.

The World Cup winner curled a shot into the top corner of a tight Premier League encounter at the Etihad Stadium and it proved enough for the champions to claim all three points.

Man City have now won three straight matches after the dramatic Community Shield lost to Arsenal.

Newcastle, buoyed by thrashing Aston Villa 5-1 in their season opener last week, had travelled in hope of claiming their first league win at City for almost 23 years.

Yet the hosts, despite making just two changes following their midweek European Super Cup win in Athens, were too strong and successfully nullified Eddie Howe’s side.

Pep Guardiola’s side were far from their fluid best, but they produced a professional performance to follow up their opening win at Burnley and in Alvarez and Phil Foden they had the brightest players on the pitch.

Newcastle fought to the end but it ultimately proved a frustrating night for the visitors, who had five players booked.

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City started slowly but began to step up the pressure midway through the first half and threatened for the first time when Manuel Akanji curled a long-range attempt over.

Haaland got close early in the second half, first after holding off Sven Botman to shoot at Pope and then mishitting another shot wide, again from a Foden pass.

City’s failure to kill off the game allowed Newcastle to come back into it in the closing stages.

Harvey Barnes was presented with a good chance after a rare misplaced pass by Rodri, but he shot straight at Ederson from distance.

Miguel Almiron also had a powerful effort blocked but City continually got numbers back and remained dangerous on the counter-attack.

Both Foden and Rodri led late raids from deep, but neither could set Haaland free for the goal that would have sealed it.