Savinho leaves Newcastle ace ‘absolutely petrified’ as Man City run riot
Savinho made a big impression on one Newcastle United man as his Man City dominated the Premier League clash between the two sides, according to Chris Sutton.
Man City will have been looking to bounce back from their Champions League collapse against Real Madrid when they hosted Eddie Howe’s side at the Etihad on Saturday (15 February).
Pep Guardiola‘s side would certainly do that, dominating the game and storming into a 3-0 lead before half-time courtesy of an Omar Marmoush hat-trick.
Sutton though was also impressed by the performance of Savinho during that match, with the winger proving to be a major outlet for the Premier League champions.
Man City ace strikes fear into Newcastle United man
While Marmoush’s opening goal of the game for Man City came after a misjudgement from Newcastle right-back Kieran Tripper, Savinho has a major part to play in the Egyptian completing his hat-trick.
As he did so often during the game, the Brazilian drove at Magpies’ left-back Lewis Hall, before cutting inside of him into the penalty area, where he put the ball on a plate for Marmoush to fire home.
With that trend of Savinho running at Hall and putting him under pressure continuing throughout the first-half, Sutton feels that individual match-up was a crucial one in the flow of the match.
Speaking on BBC Sport (3:39pm), the former Blackburn Rovers and Chelsea striker said: “Lewis Hall is absolutely petrified of Savinho, isn’t he? That match-up was always going to have a big bearing on this game. Hall just cannot cope.”
After the Man City winger maintained that form into the second-half, with more runs at Hall that pushed the Newcastle man back towards his own goal, Sutton added (4:16pm): “Lewis Hall has been given the run-around all afternoon. Savinho is taking it inside and outside, putting Hall on the spin.”
Savinho nailing down a place in Pep Guardiola’s starting XI
Football Insider Verdict
Savinho has had runs where he has been in and out of the starting XI since making his move to the Etihad in the summer.
This clash with Newcastle represented his fourth consecutive start for Guardiola’s side for Savinho, who has already impressed for Man City at times this season.
Having produced a performance as eye-catching as this in such an important game for his team, it is hard to imagine he will be dropping out of the lineup again any time soon.
Indeed, with Jack Grealish having picked up an injury for Man City against Real Madrid, a showing such as this from the Brazilian may have come at a good time for him and his side.
By contrast, this was a day to forget for Hall, who having impressed during much of his career with Newcastle, endured a much tougher day at the Etihad.
With the hosts eventually recording a dominant 4-0 win in this game, that scoreline could yet prove to be significant for both sides in the race for European football.