Alan Pardew: “I know the team they will play and know what we’ll have obviously.
“They’ve got two or three new faces. But I’m pretty confident. I’m looking for a strong performance.
“We’ve lost to Man City twice in the years I’ve been here, we need to change that.
"The last two times we’ve been there under me, we’ve been well beaten and there’s been a bit of a gap. So now under the new manager we hope to change that.
“The good way to approach it is to treat it like a bonus [that we play on Monday]. The table will read like we have lost on Saturday because we haven’t played. Therefore if we take a point or three we can take that into the West Ham and Fulham games.
“We want to get people coming to the stadium and looking forward to the game -- and not coming here and just hoping.
“We’ve got that support at St James’ Park and the agenda away from home will be to improve as well. We want to be getting five or six away wins and improving that way.
“The message to the fans is stay positive. I think we can be a powerhouse offensively. And while that dropped last year a little, I think we can get it back again.
"There’s a long, long season ahead and there’s still work to do in the transfer market as well. Remy is here and when he is fit we will have some nice options.”
Manchester City Fixtures
Monday August 19
20:00 Premier League Manchester City v Newcastle United
Sunday August 25
16:00 Premier League Cardiff City v Manchester City
Saturday August 31
12:45 Premier League Manchester City v Hull City
Saturday September 14
15:00 Premier League Stoke City v Manchester City
Sunday September 22
16:00 Premier League Manchester City v Man Utd
Saturday September 28
15:00 Premier League Aston Villa v Manchester City