NEWCASTLE dented Manchester City’s Premier League title challenge as Harvey Barnes’ brace sealed a controversial 2-1 victory on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola’s side trailed to Barnes’ second-half opener at St James’ Park before Ruben Dias equalised for the visitors.
Moments after Dias levelled, Barnes bagged Newcastle’s contentious second goal, which was allowed to stand after a lengthy VAR check for a potential offside against Bruno Guimaraes.
Guardiola was also aggrieved over a first-half penalty claim by Phil Foden.
City’s fourth league defeat this season left them in third place, four points behind leaders Arsenal, who host Tottenham on Sunday.
Guardiola said it was too early to talk about the title race this week, but the City boss will be hugely frustrated to miss the chance to put pressure on Arsenal.
City went into the international break with a 3-0 victory over troubled champions Liverpool that made it seven wins from eight games in all competitions.
But they squandered that momentum in an error-strewn display on Tyneside as Erling Haaland was held without a goal for only the third time in 21 matches for City and Norway this season.
Haaland was hoping to score his 100th league goal in his 109th appearance since arriving from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.
But he wasted several chances and Newcastle took advantage to beat City for just the second time in their last 36 league meetings.
Eddie Howe’s first win over City in 19 top-flight attempts eased the pain of Newcastle’s successive league defeats at West Ham and Brentford before the international break.
