Having seen most of their title rivals make bright starts to their English Premier League campaigns, Manuel Pellegrini and Manchester City will be keen to hit the ground running against Newcastle Monday.
City have been one of the busier sides among the top teams in England, bringing in four quality players in Alvaro Negredo, Stevan Jovetic, Jesus Navas and Fernandinho.
All four players could be handed their Premier League debuts with Pellegrini desperate to see his side make a good start.
"Of course the new players -- and the manager and staff -- all need to time to get to know each other and I am sure that we will improve as the season progresses but we do not have that time, we have to hit the ground running and that starts against Newcastle," Pellegrini said in his program notes.
"We now start a new cycle after Roberto Mancini's work from the previous seasons. He created history here, brought the club its first silverware in a long time and the first title in 44 years. He will never be forgotten and shouldn't be.
"But football moves on and evolves, it has always been that way, and now we have a new era starting tonight with some new players. We had a good squad before I got here but I think we have bought well and bought wisely during the summer."
Pellegrini does not have too many injury worries with only Matija Nastasic expected to miss out. Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, though, does have a few more problems with new signing Loic Remy ruled out along with Ryan Taylor and Davide Santon, while Jonas Gutierrez is a slight doubt.
"I think we're in good shape and for us, with the game being on Monday night, it's a psychological game for us in terms of putting ourselves in the mind of everybody with a really strong performance -- and hopefully get some points out of what is obviously a tough game," Pardew said.
"They've again invested heavily, Manchester City. They're obviously going to be one of the contenders for the title so it's a tough game for us but we're more than ready for it."
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Expected lineups: Manchester City: Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy; Fernandinho, Toure, Garcia; Navas, Dzeko, Silva.
Newcastle: Krul; Debuchy, Taylor, Coloccini, Yanga-Mbiwa; Tiote, Cabaye; Ben Arfa, Sissoko, Gutierrez; Cisse.
Prediction: 2-1 to City
