Manchester City's Perfect Saturday Sets Stage for the Rest of the Season

For a stretch during January, Manchester City didn’t look like its typical, high-flying, marauding self. With losses to Arsenal and Middlesbrough, and dropped points against Everton, Chelsea and Hull at the start of February, City looked much more a pedestrian side than one competing for some of the biggest prizes in club football.

That was, until Saturday.

The Citizens' turnaround really started Feb. 11 with a 4-1 mauling of Stoke City on the road, but Saturday not only proved what the champions are truly capable of, but also saw results around the Premier League, and beyond, that set things up well for City moving forward.

Eyes now turn to a midweek match in the Champion’s League against Barcelona, but here are the key takeaways from Manchester City’s nearly perfect Saturday.

Newcastle Is City’s Best Medicine

Back in October, when Newcastle upset City in the Capital One Cup, there were some left wondering if the Citizens had lost their magic against a team they have dominated in recent seasons.

After Saturday’s 5-0 thrashing of the Magpies, though, it was pretty clear that they hadn’t.

With three goals in the opening 21 minutes of the match, and essentially nothing offered in retaliation from Newcastle, City coasted to the incredibly comfortable victory, their 11th straight in the Premier League against Newcastle.

The timing for the fixture against Newcastle could not have been better for the Citizens. After recapturing their form the match before, a beatdown of the Magpies gave City even more confidence, with perhaps their best performance of the season heading into a two-match stretch against Barcelona at home and Liverpool at Anfield.

Chelsea Drop Points, Lose Matic Against Burnley

The team City is chasing to maintain their hold on the Premier League, leaders Chelsea, had one of the worst results they have had so far this year. Although Jose Mourinho’s side have lost before this year, a 1-1 draw at home against relegation-challenged Burnley isn’t something the fans will want to remember.

Perhaps more importantly than the result itself though, which allowed City to close the gap to five points at the top, was the loss of Nemanja Matic.

A straight red card shown for retaliating to a dangerous tackle by Burnley’s Ashley Barnes means that Matic will be missing at least the next two Premier League matches, against top-half teams West Ham and Southampton.

Matic has been, inarguably, one of Chelsea’s best players this season, and any extended time without him hurts the West London side, especially with likely replacement John Obi Mikel dealing with an injury as well.

With the title race going the way it is this season, City need Chelsea to drop as many points as possible, and losing Matic sets the stage for exactly that.

Barcelona’s Invincibility in Question

Barcelona haven’t been the dominant force in club football the past couple of years that they were under Pep Guardiola. With no trophies last season, it was fair to question if the Catalonian side were losing their place as one of football’s top four clubs.

This season, though, following a number of questions surrounding the club in the early stages, Barca have turned things around, and are back in the discussion for the Champion’s League favorites. Winning 11 straight matches heading into Saturday, Lionel Messi and Co. were only one point back of Real Madrid in La Liga, with the club’s air of invincibility back in place.

But with City coming up this week in the Champion’s League, Barcelona were caught off-guard, and fell 1-0 to a good-not-great Malaga side.

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GOAL JUANMI! Barcelona 0-1 Malaga http://t.co/Sz6fSJgSqW

— Footy Goals LIVE (@FootyGoalsLIVE) February 21, 2015"

Although the loss could be chalked up to players looking ahead to the midweek fixture against the Citizens, it is still great timing for City, who were looking for a chink in the armor of Barcelona.

If the La Liga side had headed into the match with 12 straight wins, it would have felt like a borderline-impossible task for the Manchester club to overcome.

Now, though, Barcelona look mortal, and City will be looking to pounce.