Newcastle United FC

ETIHAD STADIUM, MANCHESTER — Phil Foden scored a superb solo goal before Bernardo Silva came off the bench to give Manchester City a hard-fought and potentially vital 2-0 Premier League win over Newcastle United. City started in nervy fashion against last weekend's defeated Carabao Cup finalists but Foden darted inside Dan Burn in the 15th minute to cause havoc in the Newcastle box and send home a deflected finish via Sven Botman.

Callum Wilson and Joelinton both should have equalised for Newcastle before Silva, on for the underwhelming Kevin De Bruyne, made an instant impact by converting Erling Haaland's pass in the 67th minute. City captain Ilkay Gundogan wasted a first-minute header, although the fact that chance arrived on the counter-attack gave an indication of how Newcastle would approach matters on the front foot. A dicey Kyle Walker pass towards his own goal almost let in Callum Wilson and it required a touch of genius from Foden to steady City's nerves.

There appeared to be little on when he collected a pass from Rodri in the inside right position but the England attacker darted inside Burn, sped away from Anthony Gordon and made light of other close attention before seeing the prone Botman divert his shot home. Nathan Ake made a last-ditch challenge to deny Sean Longstaff before Wilson botched a glorious chance from Kieran Trippier's knockdown and there were more scares to come for City after the interval. Eddie Howe made a triple substitution after the hour and one of the new men, Joe Willock, soon made his presence felt, crossing for Joelinton to miss his kick with the goal at his mercy. Another of the subs, Alexander Isak, was denied by a pair of brave challenges from Ruben Dias and Ederson. Silva trumped them both for instant impact. With typical tenacity, the Portugal midfielder hurried Pope into a poor clearance. Jack Grealish picked up the pieces and found Erling Haaland, whose pass was steered unerringly home by Silva.

On another day, Newcastle might have got a result here. Six days on from their sapping Wembley loss to Manchester United, Eddie Howe's side tried to play on the front foot throughout, but not in a cavalier fashion as they did when getting thumped 5-0 in this fixture last season. Even when not in their best collective form, the progress over the intervening 10 months is obvious. However, "nil" is the one consistent theme and Newcastle electing to stop scoring since the turn of the year threatens to fatally undermine their top-four bid. Of course, it's not a conscious decision, even if Wilson and Joelinton could not have made a bigger mess of their respective chances if they tried and Isak passed up a less-glaring opening after coming on. In the eight games since they hammered Leicester City 3-0 on Boxing Day, Newcastle have scored three times in eight Premier League matches.

WEMBLEY STADIUM, LONDON — Manchester United ended a wait of five years and 278 days for a trophy as they defeated Newcastle United 2-0 in the Carabao Cup final. A match short on high quality but full of passion saw the Red Devils emerge victorious thanks to first-half goals from Casemiro and Marcus Rashford.

It is the first piece of silverware Man United have won since they secured the double of the Carabao Cup and Europa League in Jose Mourinho's first season in charge back in 2016/17.

For Newcastle, a wait of 68 years for a major trophy must go on, although their performance in this competition — and throughout the season — will give the vociferous Magpies support at Wembley plenty of confidence that even better days are on the horizon under Eddie Howe.

It was a foul on Rashford that led to the opening goal from Casemiro, back from a domestic suspension in time for this game. Luke Shaw's cross from the free-kick was too inviting to pass up, and Casemiro's header was far too accurate for stand-in Newcastle goalkeeper Loris Karius, making his first appearance in senior football for nearly two years.

After combining with Wout Weghorst, Rashford ran at Sven Botman and drilled a low shot that deflected off the centre-back's foot and looped over the helpless Karius. It was an unfortunate goal to concede for the man whose mistakes saw Liverpool lose the 2018 Champions League final, and it seemed to sap the belief from Newcastle players and fans alike.

Howe introduced Alexander Isak for the second half, but it became a case of Man United allowing the Magpies to have the ball and see if they could find a way through. Invariably, they failed. Karius certainly made amends by keeping the scoreline at 2-0 with a save from Rashford and a brilliant stop to deny Bruno Fernandes, but ultimately the Red Devils simply ate up the time in the second half. The scenes at full-time among the fans were certainly ones to savour.