Wednesday, 14th August, 2013
Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor is raring to play against Manchester City in the Magpies’ season opener on 19th August and hopes his side can catch the Citizens “off guard.”
Manchester City are in midst of a transition period as the Blues have replaced their previous manager Roberto Mancini with Manuel Pellegrini.
In addition, the Citizens have roped in Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic, with the quartet plying their trade in English football for the first time.
And this is why Taylor feels it is right time to face last season’s Premier League runners-up.
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He explained to the club’s official site: "That's what you want to play for – it's the whole point of being a professional footballer. The big games are what we look forward to.
"We've got Mancheser City first game and hopefully we can catch them off guard."
Taylor is happy with Newcastle’s pre-season progress and feels his side will do much better than their 16th spot finish in the Premier League last term.
"I think what you're going to find on Monday is a fitter Newcastle United team compared to last season, and hopefully we can show that and produce the goods on the pitch.
"As players, along with the manager and staff, we were disappointed with our performances last year. We didn't hit the grade that we wanted to and hopefully this year we can hit the ground running, starting with Man City in the first game."
The 27-year-old has more than 180 league appearances for Newcastle to his name.
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