Pep Guardiola makes surprise Kevin De Bruyne team news hint ahead of Newcastle trip

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has made a major Kevin De Bruyne team news hint ahead of Saturday’s Premier League match against Newcastle United.

The Sky Blues play their first Premier League match of 2024 this weekend, travelling to St James’ Park to face Eddie Howe’s struggling Newcastle side.

The Magpies have failed to win any of their past eight Premier League matches against Manchester City, and have also slumped to 9th in the table, winning just one of their past five fixtures.

Both clubs were victorious in the Emirates FA Cup last weekend, with City overcoming Huddersfield Town at the Etihad Stadium and Newcastle beating local rivals Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Kevin De Bruyne made just his third Manchester City appearance of the campaign last weekend, featuring for the first time in five months, after undergoing surgery for a recurring hamstring problem.

The 32-year-old featured alongside fellow Belgium international Jeremy Doku during the second-half of Sunday’s 5-0 thrashing, with the pair also in contention to feature at St James’ Park.

De Bruyne had suggested that he would likely remain on the bench for the Blues’ upcoming fixtures, with the midfielder having not started since the opening weekend of the season at Burnley.

The Belgian has been training with the Manchester City first-team since December, and according to Guardiola, could start against Newcastle on Saturday evening.

“Kevin De Bruyne is ready to start and I can see he is very good and the trip to Abu Dhabi will do him good too,” said Guardiola.

“I saw him yesterday and he feels good and dynamic. He played well, better than the sessions before Huddersfield. He’s getting better.”

Manchester City could move to within two points of league leaders Liverpool with victory on Tyneside, but will be without both Erling Haaland and John Stones for the clash.