Newcastle and Man City Can Make History With Rare Fixture List Quirk

Newcastle and Manchester City could make an unusual bit of fixture history in an almost unthinkable scenario next month.

The two sides lock horns on Tuesday in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final at St James' Park, with the second leg arranged for 4 February at the Etihad Stadium.

Newcastle are the holders of the competition after ending their 56-year trophy drought last month, while City are the second-most successful club in League Cup history with eight triumphs.

The pair of giants could be extremely familiar with another in the coming weeks, with a possibility of FOUR meetings in February.

City have the second leg at the start of the month and also host the Magpies in an early kick-off at the Etihad on 21 February.

But there is still potential for the two sides to face one another three times in a row. Though they avoided each other in the FA Cup fourth round, where City were drawn against Salford City or Swindon and Newcastle got paired up against Aston Villa - it is still possible that they meet in the Champions League.

Pep Guardiola's side travelled to Newcastle for the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg. Image: Getty

Both sides have two games remaining in the league phase, with City fourth in the overall table after beating Real Madrid and moving to 13 points.

Newcastle, meanwhile are down in 12th with three wins, two draws and one loss from their six fixtures. At the time of writing, they are on course to make the two-legged play-off round, which takes place in February.

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The top eight automatically qualify for the round of 16 and City were all-placed to do so after being eliminated by Real Madrid in a dismal European campaign last term.

However, with only one point separating fourth-placed City and Liverpool in ninth, there could still be plenty of movement.

Pep Guardiola's have therefore not confirmed their place in the last 16 and so with no ruling around country protection, City and Newcastle could feasibly be drawn together.

Semenyo opened his account on his City debut on Saturday. Image: Getty

If they were, they would meet on 17/18 February and the 24th/25th. The league fixture would be sandwiched in between the Champions League clashes in a quite remarkable run.

Thanks to a rule change, City's new £64 million recruit Antoine Semenyo is eligible to play against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup despite featuring for Bournemouth in the competition.

He scored and assisted on his debut on Saturday in the 10-1 thrashing of Exeter City.

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