Man City face Champions League play-off nightmare as Newcastle United watch on

Newcastle United will face a Manchester City side fighting to make the Champions League knock-out stages when the two clubs go head to head at the Etihad Stadium in February.

Eddie Howe takes his side to the North West to face Pep Guardiola's men as part of a challenging February fixture list that sees United face City, Liverpool, and surprise Premier League package Nottingham Forest. However, the reigning champions may have one eye on their Champions League fate with their two-legged qualifying tie taking place either side of the showdown with Newcastle.

Man City's win over Club Brugges on Wednesday night ensure that they made the next stage of the elite European competition, but they now face a play-off to qualify for the last 16. The top eight of the new-look 36-team Champions League group stages go straight into a knockout, and will be joined by by the winners of eight play-off ties, contested by the teams which finished from ninth to 24th place.

City, who finished 22nd, will find out who they play in Friday's draw, with the matches being played over two legs over the course of two weeks, with the first legs kicking off on February 11 / 12 and the return legs taking place on February 18 / 19.

Newcastle's Premier League game at the Etihad is currently scheduled for Saturday, February 15, meaning it will be sandwiched in between both play-off games - and a week before Man City's PL game with title rivals Liverpool, also on home turf.

Of course, dealing with a hectic fixture list at this stage of the season is nothing new to Guardiola and Co, but they are well off the pace in the Premier League title race and have failed to win four of their 11 home games to date.

Manchester City's hectic fixtures

• February 11/12 - Champions League play-off first leg
• February 15 - Newcastle United (H), Premier League
• February 18/19 - Champions League play-off second leg
• February 23 - Liverpool (H), Premier League