For long periods of a thrilling, and sometimes tumultuous, 90 minutes on Tyneside, Manchester City seemed to be gasping for oxygen.
The visitors’ periods of distress and sheer puzzlement had nothing to do with any lack of fitness and everything to do with the skill and aggression of Allan Saint-Maximin and the rest of a Newcastle team who had evidently bought into Eddie Howe’s mantra that mountains are there for climbing.
