Pep Guardiola tells team to ‘enjoy life’ with cocktails as Man City pile pressure on Arsenal

City may lack the mechanical fluidity and relentless winning style of Guardiola’s sides who won four consecutive Premier League titles, but those memories may still come back to many who will play their part in the weeks to come.

One of the new faces is Italian giant Gianluigi Donnarumma, a Champions League winner with Paris St-Germain last season, who is now chasing new honors and new horizons with Manchester City.

In some ways he is an imperfect goalkeeper, particularly under the crosses, but he has this strange and invaluable habit of making superb winning saves that make up for other failures.

He did it with a stunning stoppage-time save from Alexis Mac Allister in a City win at Liverpool that can still be considered the pivotal moment of their season, and he did it again here.

As the final seconds ticked away with Newcastle pressing for a point, Donnarumma used that giant wingspan to stretch low to his right to deflect away Harvey Barnes’ goal-bound shot.

Seconds later the final whistle sounded and the Etihad Stadium was awash in celebration.

Time will tell how important these saves – these victories – will be, but City now find themselves in a position in which they have thrived before.

Win all their games. Win the Premier League.

Now the landscape shifts to north London – along with the pressure – as Arsenal face that dangerous trip to Spurs.