Kompany urges Manchester City to bounce back at Newcastle

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has called for a repeat of last season's stand-out victory at Newcastle as the ideal response to the damaging Premier League defeat by Manchester United.

Roberto Mancini's reigning champions are keen to bounce back from their dramatic 3-2 derby loss to Alex Ferguson's side last weekend, and will draw on the positive memories of their last trip to St James' Park seven months ago en route to being crowned kings of English football.

Despite facing a Newcastle team fighting to gain a Champions League place back in May, City triumphed 2-0 with two goals from midfielder Yaya Toure, delivering a dominant display that Kompany ranks as one of the best of the campaign.

City, now trailing leaders United by six points, return to Tyneside keen to prove their setback against Ferguson's team, which ended their unbeaten league record for the season and also shattered a two-year undefeated sequence in the league at the Eastlands, was a blip rather than cause for serious concern.

A City loss at Newcastle would give United the opportunity to stretch their lead at the top of the table to nine points against struggling Sunderland, and Kompany will remind his players of their achievement last time around.

"It's fair to say that game has gone a bit unnoticed, but it was one of the best games we have played as a unit," Kompany said. "We looked very, very solid, and when we attacked we looked very dangerous every time.

"Newcastle also had everything to play for as well and were a very strong side. Maybe we have to keep that memory in mind when we go there on Saturday."

Kompany admits it is unthinkable for City's greatest rivals to be given the opportunity to increase their advantage so substantially at this stage of the season.

"We all know the importance of the game, but I don't do very well thinking about bad scenarios. For me, there are so many positives that can happen if we win the game -- I can't think of the other side of that coin," he added.

"We have done it many times before and we need to get back in that mindset. If we do that, good things will come for us.

"Newcastle away is just as difficult as the game we had on Sunday but nothing comes easy in the Premier League. It's a difficult game for us but it's also a tough one for Newcastle as well."

Meanwhile, Newcastle plan to go on the attack as they look to halt a run of five successive defeats against City, who they have not beaten for more than seven years.

A sequence of just one victory in their last 10 games leaves Newcastle two points above the bottom three in what has so far been a season of struggle, in stark contrast to their lofty fifth-place finish in May.

With back-to-back home games against the Premier League Champions and QPR, Alan Pardew insists Newcastle must go on the offensive in order to achieve his aim of six points.

"We've got to go and attack Manchester City," Pardew said. "We've got City and QPR as our next two home games and there's no reason why we can't get six points from them."

Newcastle are without long-term injured trio Yohan Cabaye, Steven Taylor and Ryan Taylor, with French midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa a major doubt after a recurrence of a hamstring injury.