After an emphatic 6-1 win over Qarabag in the week, Newcastle were bidding to win a fourth consecutive game for the first time this season, but a lengthy trip to Azerbaijan had clearly taken its toll.
Title-chasing City looked excellent in the run-up to the opener, when Omar Marmoush drove his side forward and found Nico O’Reilly, who ignored the overlapping run of Erling Haaland and instead fired into the bottom corner from just outside the area.
But the response from the visitors was excellent, and just eight minutes passed before parity was once again restored.
Lewis Hall collected the ball from Jacob Ramsey following a corner, rasping in a shot from the edge of the box which took a cruel deflection off Rayan Ait-Nouri and bounced past a flailing Gianluigi Donnarumma into the bottom right.
However, Newcastle were only on level terms for five minutes as City took the lead again through O’Reilly, who rose to meet Haaland’s cross from the right before directing his header back across goal and into the net.
Dan Burn was unfortunate to be marginally offside while heading in just before the break, and Newcastle remained firmly in the game well into the second half.
Nick Pope’s save from Antoine Semenyo helped their cause, but most of the pressure was at the other end.
City defended well, though, limiting their opponents to just a few efforts from distance as the second half failed to replicate the excitement of the first.
Pope came to his side's rescue with a double save from Haaland and Phil Foden's efforts with a few minutes to play, though the players in front of him weren’t able to take advantage and salvage a point.
The pressure is now on Arsenal ahead of their North London derby against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, and anything other than a win over Spurs would allow City to move top of the table should they prevail in their game in hand.
Meanwhile, it’s been a resurgent couple of weeks for Newcastle, but they are still a way off their targets in the PL and must beat Everton next time out to keep up in the race for the European places.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Nico O’Reilly (Manchester City)
