They didn’t look scarred by the loss to Liverpool. They chalked up a 20th win in 22 league games. 

They did so with patience, passing and perpetual possession. The potency of Sergio Aguero – on his 200th Premier League appearance – helped, too. 

Aguero nipped ahead of Ciaran Clark to meet Kevin de Bruyne’s cross with a glancing header. 

It was typical the Belgian forged the breakthrough. He has been City’s best player this season. 

Aguero scored his second from the penalty spot after one former Liverpool player, Javier Manquillo, fouled another, in Raheem Sterling. 

His third was the best of the lot, coming after a speedy surge from Leroy Sane. 

Aguero span to shoot past Karl Darlow. Sterling had a goal disallowed after he was fractionally offside when he touched in David Silva’s cross. City could have scored more goals.

Perhaps they should have done. They had 83 per cent of the ball in the first half. They had a series of corners. 

But, having gone two goals down, Newcastle belatedly attacked. Perhaps they should have done so earlier. 

They soon got a goal back. It was taken classily by Jacob Murphy, who dinked a shot over Ederson. 

They almost had another, Ederson twice denying Mohamed Diame after a barnstorming run. Yet while they had the first shot on target, it was a rare attack. 

Jurgen Klopp had attacked City when Liverpool beat them. A former Liverpool manager took the opposing approach. 

Rafa Benitez did not quite deploy a flat back nine, but it was not far off. 

For the second time in a month, he parked the bus against City. It didn’t get Newcastle a point on either occasion. Aguero’s sharpness saw to that.