First v second in the Championship tonight. Colossal.

Joey Barton and Sean Dyche were sounding off over Middlesbrough's spending this week, while Boro boss Aitor Karanka suggested that Burnley should have had promotion sewn up in February.

Could get tasty! It's part of a full Football League programme tonight. 

And Newcastle make just the one change - Ayoze Perez starts instead of Georginio Wijnaldum. 

Vincent Kompany starts for Manchester City - he is one of three changes from the side which won at Chelsea.

Manchester City

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini: "The mathematical reason why we are not challenging for the title is because we lost three games in a row at the beginning of February.

"I hope we can continue playing the same way we did last Saturday, being an aggressive team and trying to win from the beginning.

"If we continue playing that way it doesn't matter against who we play but we know we have a difficult game. They need all the points to try not to be relegated."

Image source, PA

Newcastle are three points behind Norwich and safety, with a game in hand. A win tonight would be massive. Defeat doesn't even bear thinking about for Rafael Benitez and co...

Image source, .

Image source, .

Defeat for Manchester City would prick up the ears of their rivals United, and West Ham. Both sides still have designs on a top-four finish.

A win for City tonight though and they would look pretty safe.

Safe in the top four I mean. Not just safe.

Quite simply, Newcastle HAD to beat Swansea last Saturday to have any chance of staying up.

And they did. Emphatically.

Manchester City HAD to beat Chelsea to keep in pole position for a Champions League place.

And they did. Emphatically.

Image source, Reuters

Are both sides on the up?

Newcastle United

Steve Harper; Fabricio Coloccini, Steven Taylor, David Edgar, Damien Duff; Kevin Nolan (Michael Owen), Nicky Butt, Danny Guthrie; Obafemi Martins, Mark Viduka (Shola Ameobi), Peter Lovenkrands (Jose Enrique).

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The Newcastle side which was relegated from the Premier League back in 2009 was not short of internationals.

It was not short of Premier League goals - Owen, Viduka, Ameobi, Martins and Nolan racked up 382 in their careers - and it was not short of a much-loved, revered manager.

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It was not short of vocal backing. It was not short of resources.

But it was short of wins, short of points, short of safety. Alan Shearer's rescue attempt failed and Newcastle were relegated with 34 points.

This year, it's Rafa Benitez playing the role of firefighter. He has 28 points on the board with five games left.

Can he pull it off? Next up is Manchester City. It could be pivotal.

Image source, PA