Stunners from Sterling and Walker give City win over Newcastle

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Newcastle United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Manchester City's Kyle Walker scores their second goal REUTERS/Andrew Yates

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - MANCHESTER CITY 2 NEWCASTLE UNITED 1

A powerful long-range strike from Kyle Walker gave champions Manchester City a 2-1 win over Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Newcastle United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Manchester City's Raheem Sterling celebrates scoring their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

Walker's 52nd minute strike, from over 25 yards out, was his first goal for City and came after Newcastle had fought back to go in level at the break.

City, who left out winger Leroy Sane with the German not even on the bench, looked still far from their best and struggled to break down a well-organised Newcastle defence.

After three wins and a draw from their opening four games, City are in third place, two points behind early leaders Liverpool and Chelsea who both have 100 percent records.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Newcastle United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Manchester City's Sergio Aguero shoots at goal with an overhead kick before a goal is disallowed Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

With Sane left out and Kevin de Bruyne injured, City featured two strikers in Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus with Sterling on the left and Riyad Mahrez on the right-flank.

City took the lead in the eighth minute through a wonderful strike from Raheem Sterling who cut in from the left and beat Newcastle keeper Martin Dubravka with a diagonal shot into the far corner.

But there was a lack of fluency and not the familiar zip to City's play and Rafa Benitez's strategy of playing for the counter-attack soon paid off.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Newcastle United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Manchester City's David Silva in action with Newcastle United's Federico Fernandez Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

Full-back DeAndre Yedlin burst down the right flank to get on the end of a low cross from Solomon Rondon after a well-worked break from the Magpies.

After Walker's strike, Newcastle had keeper Dubravka to thank for keeping them within a goal -- he produced a brilliant triple save to foil Fernandinho and two efforts from David Silva.

Walker conceded City were not at their best and needed to get used to teams taking a defensive approach.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Newcastle United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Manchester City's Raheem Sterling scores their first goal REUTERS/Andrew Yates

"When teams set up like Newcastle did you are going to get done on the counter, it is something we need to improve on," he said.

"So we’ve got cobwebs to brush off from the summer and hopefully we can come good after the international break."

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Newcastle United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Newcastle United's Federico Fernandez in action with Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus REUTERS/Andrew Yates

(Reporting by Simon Evans, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Newcastle United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Manchester City's Kyle Walker celebrates scoring their second goal REUTERS/Andrew Yates

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Newcastle United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Newcastle United's DeAndre Yedlin scores their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Newcastle United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Manchester City's Kyle Walker in action with Newcastle United's Paul Dummett REUTERS/Andrew Yates

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Newcastle United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Newcastle United's Ayoze Perez in action with Manchester City's David Silva Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Newcastle United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Newcastle United's DeAndre Yedlin scores their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Newcastle United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - September 1, 2018 Manchester City's David Silva in action Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff