There was a time in history when Manchester City vs Newcastle United was nothing more than a standard Premier League fixture that wouldn’t catch the eye of most.

Now, though, this is a clash of two of the richest clubs in the world. Since Man City’s takeover in 2008, they have won it all, most recently winning the treble.

They’ve used the benefit of Sheikh Mansour’s billions and been on an incredible journey that City fans could only dream of back in the late 1990s when they were competing in the third tier of English football.

Today, Newcastle are at the very beginning of their own path to bank-rolled glory. PIF’s 2021 takeover ended 14 years of disappointment and underachievement under the ownership of Mike Ashley and immediately transformed the Magpies from perennial underachievers to expectant competitors for the game’s largest honours.

While this particular fixture isn’t exactly a clash of two giants of the game right now, it will be in the not-too-distant future. It is, though, a battle between two heavily wealthy football club owners who are only interested in one thing: world domination.

The latest meeting between the pair came last month in match week two of the 2023/24 Premier League season. It saw City narrowly defeat Eddie Howe's side 1-0 thanks to a wonderful strike from Julián Álvarez, who is being widely tipped to become one of the best forwards in the world.

Ahead of Wednesday evening's cup clash, Football FanCast takes a look at how the stats rack up.

Newcastle vs Man City: Who has the better head-to-head record?

It is quite fitting that the record between these two clubs is almost as equal as their respective financial standing in the game.

Man City have enjoyed far more success over Newcastle in recent seasons, tipping the record in their favour, but before City’s fortunes changed in 2008, there wasn’t a dominant side in this fixture since their first-ever meeting in 1893, when Man City were known as Ardwick FC.

Since 2005, though, Newcastle have only managed to beat the Citizens twice in 34 attempts.

Newcastle wins: 72 Draws: 41 Man City wins: 76 Newcastle vs Man City: Who has more wins at St James’ Park?

Quite surprisingly, despite the recent gulf between the two sides, Newcastle’s home record against Man City has been relatively strong.

Man City have failed to win in four of their last eight visits to St James’ Park, with their most recent loss coming in 2019 when goals from Salomon Rondon and Matt Ritchie cancelled out a first-minute Sergio Aguero opener.

That said, it was City’s first defeat at St. James’ Park since September 2005, when Michael Owen’s first-half goal secured a 1-0 win for the Magpies.

Newcastle United wins: 52 Draws: 20 Man City wins: 23 Newcastle vs Man City: Who has more wins at the Etihad Stadium/Maine Road?

Man City have been incredibly strong on their own patch in recent years, especially under Pep Guardiola.

While they’ve been dominating the domestic game, even the strongest of Premier League sides have struggled to take anything away from the Etihad Stadium. So it’s no surprise that Newcastle’s away record against Man City is vastly inferior to their home record.

Their last win at the Etihad came via a 2-0 League Cup victory in 2014, while they have never won there in the Premier League. Their last away league win against Man City came in 2000 at Maine Road; Alan Shearer’s 74th-minute goal was enough for the three points.

Newcastle United: 19 Draws: 21 Man City: 52 Man City vs Newcastle: Who has the better cup record?

Unlike the gulf between these two sides in the Premier League era, the cup meetings between Man City and Newcastle have been a more equal affair.

They have met in cup competitions on 16 occasions, most recently in 2020 when Man City were triumphant in St. James’ Park to advance to the FA Cup semi-finals via a 2-0 victory.

They’ve also met in two finals, once in the FA Cup (1976) and once in the League Cup (1955), with one victory a piece.

Given the expectation surrounding Newcastle’s future under their new owners, we might expect more clashes between sides in domestic finals pretty soon.

Man City wins: 6 Draws: 3 Newcastle wins: 7 Man City vs Newcastle: Who has the better Premier League record?

It should come as no surprise that Man City have been utterly dominant in this fixture throughout the Premier League era.

Newcastle actually won the first Premier League meeting between the two sides on New Year's Day in 1994, and City only managed one top-flight victory over the Magpies before the turn of the century,

Overall, though, the Citizens have rather enjoyed playing Newcastle in the top flight, winning 29 of their 46 Premier League meetings and losing just eight.

Since that first meeting, City have scored an incredible 97 goals and kept 21 clean sheets, compared to Newcastle’s 43 and eight respectively.

Man City wins: 29 Draws: 9 Newcastle wins: 8 Man City vs Newcastle: What were the last 6 meetings?

19th August 2023 – Manchester City 1-0 Newcastle United: City edged past a stubborn Newcastle United side, who were coming off the back of a thumping 5-1 victory against European-chasing Aston Villa.

The dazzling Phil Foden, who stepped in to replace the injured Kevin De Bruyne, set up Julián Álvarez to lash home a well-struck effort from just inside the area. The Argentine's 31st-minute goal turned out to be the winner as the visitors failed to really land a glove on the treble winners.

4th March 2023 – Manchester City 2-0 Newcastle United: This was a game that many considered a potential banana skin in City’s attempts to usurp Arsenal at the top of the league.

Newcastle needed all three points to close the gap on Spurs in the race for the top four, but City’s victory, via goals from Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva, took them to within two points of leaders Arsenal, and the rest is history.

21st August 2022 – Newcastle United 3-3 Manchester City: This was arguably the game that announced Newcastle as a completely new proposition to Premier League opposition following their takeover.

Having survived relegation just a few months earlier, this was a new dawn for the Magpies and they proved they could compete so early on in their journey by holding the Premier League champions to a thrilling six-goal thriller, despite taking a 3-1 lead.

8th May 2022 – Manchester City 5-0 Newcastle United: The most recent rampant City victory over Newcastle in the Premier League era. Goals from Aymeric Laporte, Rodri, Phil Foden and a Raheem Sterling brace humbled the Magpies at the Etihad.

19th December 2021 – Newcastle United 0-4 Manchester City: With Newcastle just two months into new-found wealth under PIF’s ownership, there was understandably a newfound sense of excitement at St James’ Park.

However, goals from Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling brought the Magpies faithful back down to earth with a bump.

14th May 2021 – Newcastle United 3-4 Manchester City: Played behind closed doors, this one will go down as a classic. Emil Krafth was the unlikely scorer of Newcastle’s opener – the first time they’d scored first against Man City for almost six years – but found themselves going in at half-time locked at 2-2.

Four crazy second-half minutes saw Joe Willock put Newcastle ahead before a Ferran Torres brace secured the Spaniard's hat-trick to ensure City took all three points away from St James’ Park.

Man City vs Newcastle: Who has the richest owners?

Since Sheikh Mansour purchased Manchester City for £200m in 2008, he has reportedly invested £2.5bn into the football club – roughly £1.5bn of which has gone on new signings – but is said to have a net worth of £17bn.

The actual owners of Man City are the Abu Dhabi United Group, which is an investment company for the Abu Dhabi royal family owned by Mansour. This makes Manchester City the second-richest club in the world. The first? Newcastle United.

A consortium led by Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) acquired an 80% share of Newcastle United in October 2021 for £300m. PIF is chaired by the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has a net worth of around £13bn, but the collective wealth of the PIF fund is thought to be in the region of £320bn.

That makes Man City’s riches look like pocket change, doesn’t it?

Who has played for Man City and Newcastle?

There are a handful of players who have played for both Manchester City and Newcastle United over the years, a few of which are huge names to Premier League fans around the world.

James Milner (Newcastle 2004-2008; Man City 2010-2015): The winger-turned-full-back started his career at Leeds United before joining Newcastle in 2004. He spent four years at St James’ Park before joining Aston Villa permanently for £12m.

Just two years passed before Man City purchased the England international for around £26m in 2010. From there, Milner went on to win all there is to win in the game, first at Man City and then at Liverpool, where he recently left to join Brighton & Hove Albion on a free transfer.

Milner made 136 appearances for Newcastle, scoring 11 goals. For City, he made 203 appearances and scored 18 goals. During his time at the Etihad, he won two Premier Leagues, an FA Cup and a League Cup.

Milner is now closing in on Gareth Barry’s all-time record of Premier League appearances (652) and could break that in the 2023/24 campaign if he can get enough game time at the AMEX.

Andrew Cole (Newcastle 1993-1995; Man City 2005-2006): Cole’s career is mostly underlined by his time at Manchester United, but before that, he was just as prolific for Newcastle, where he scored 68 goals in 84 first-team appearances before arriving at Old Trafford in a £6m deal in January 1995.

Five Premier League titles and a historic treble followed for Cole at Man United before he eventually ended up at Man City (via Blackburn Rovers and Fulham), where he scored 10 goals in 23 appearances during his solitary campaign in the blue half of Manchester.

He then went on to have spells with Portsmouth, Birmingham City, Sunderland, Burnley and Nottingham Forest before calling time on an illustrious career in 2009.

Craig Bellamy (Newcastle 2001-2005; Man City 2009-2011): The Wales international started his career at Norwich City, but really announced himself when Sir Bobby Robson signed him for Newcastle from Coventry City in a £6.5m deal in 2001. Bellamy went on to score 43 goals in 128 appearances for the Magpies before signing for Blackburn, via a season on loan at Celtic.

Spells at Liverpool and West Ham United followed before he ended up at Manchester City in a deal worth a reported £14m in 2008. Bellamy lasted just two seasons at the Etihad, in which he scored just 15 goals in 51 first-team appearances.

Other players to have played for both Newcastle and Man City include Shay Given, Laurent Chavet, Steve Howey, Sylvain Distin, Stuart Pearce, Dietmar Hamann, Joey Barton, Antoine Sibierski and Tommy Wright.

What is Man City’s biggest victory over Newcastle?

Man City have recorded a handful of 5-0 victories over Newcastle in the past, but the only time they scored more than five is when they won 6-1 at the Etihad Stadium in October 2015.

This game in particular is known mostly for Sergio Aguero’s emphatic 20-minute five-goal haul, with Kevin De Bruyne scoring the other.

However, Newcastle did actually take the lead in this game via Aleksandar Mitrovic’s 18th-minute opener. The two teams went into the break at 1-1 but by the 62nd minute, City were 6-1 up and Aguero had equalled the Premier League record for most goals in a single game.

What is Newcastle’s biggest victory over Man City?

Newcastle’s biggest victory over Manchester City came way back in October 1983 when they ran out 5-0 winners in a Division Two clash at St James’ Park.

A Peter Beardsley hat-trick was the headline of the game, while Chris Waddle and Kevin Keegan also found themselves on the scoresheet.

Since then, Newcastle have only managed to score more than three goals in a game against Manchester City on one occasion.