Welcome to the preview of Manchester United vs Newcastle United.
Thursday, December 26, starting at 8 p.m.
The real United travel to Manchester this Boxing Day in the hope of a Christmas present in the form of three points against one of the teams we despise above almost all others.
Currently, Newcastle’s away form is hindering any chance of climbing towards the European places.
There is no reason why we can’t put this right with games played four days apart at Man U and Burnley.
Form
Newcastle have won three, drawn two and lost just one of their past six league matches. There have been wins against Man City, Burnley and Everton, while we have drawn at home against both Tottenham and Chelsea in games. The Toon Army was desperately disappointed not to have achieved all three points. Our only defeat in the last six times came at our arch-rivals, where a complete non-performance was punished with an own goal in a devastating defeat. We scored twelve goals and conceded eight. With the eleven points won, we are eleventh in the league and with a win we can even become seventh on goal difference.
Man U have won two, drawn two and lost two of their last six league matches. Wins have been achieved against Wolves and Crystal Palace, while draws have been recorded at home against Bournemouth and West Ham. They have been beaten by Aston Villa and Everton. They scored thirteen goals and conceded ten. These eight points have helped them to seventh in the league and a win could see them move into the top four.
Last time out
The Toon hosted Chelsea last weekend and United took the game to their opponents from the first whistle. Woltemade opened the scoring after just three minutes, before doubling the lead with a well-taken second. Saint Nick then missed a golden opportunity for his hat-trick as United threatened to run riot. Unfortunately, failing to score a third prize proved costly as Chelsea were given the opportunity to regroup with the score 2-0 at half-time. The second half was only a few minutes old when James fired home a free-kick to reduce the deficit and the next goal was always going to be absolutely crucial in determining where the points went. It looked like NUFC would have a golden opportunity to regain a two-goal lead when Gordon was ambushed in the penalty area. Incredibly, the referee missed this stonewall penalty, which incredibly survived a VAR check. Chelsea usually equalized shortly afterwards and both teams knew another goal would likely be the winner. Newcastle created and then squandered two golden opportunities to thrill the stadium. First Harvey Barnes hit wide in the backfield and then Elanga sprinted the length of the pitch but opted to blast a shot wide rather than passing to two unmarked teammates. The Toon had to settle for a point that many would have settled for before the match, but that was disappointing given the circumstances as we continued our alarming trend of dropping points from winning positions.
Man United traveled to Aston Villa on Sunday and went down 2-1, the surprise package of the season so far. The exhausted Man United fell behind just before half time, but was immediately able to level the score and guarantee a halftime score of 1-1. Villa scored the only goal of the second half and Man United struggled with a hamstring injury to captain Fernandes, forcing him off at half-time.
State attack!
-Newcastle have won two and drawn one of their past four visits to Old Trafford in all competitions.
-De Toon have only managed to find the net once in the past nine away games with Man United.
-NUFC has won five of the last six meetings between the sides.
Memorable match
In April 1998, The Toon were on a high after reaching their first FA Cup final in twenty-four years. Man United, on the other hand, were desperately trying to stay ahead of an Arsenal team that was relentlessly chasing them in the hunt for the title.
Newcastle traveled to Old Trafford and opened the scoring in the eleventh minute when Andreas Andersson scored his second goal in two games. David Beckham equalized before half-time, but the real story came in the second half.
Newcastle defended resolutely for forty-five minutes, despite constant pressure. In the final moments of the match, an attack from the Red Devils was broken up and Ketsbaia released Robert Lee who was completely through on goal. The stage was set for our first away win over Man United in over two decades until Lee was deliberately and cynically brought down by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was immediately shown a red card before being cheered down the tunnel by a bunch of glory seekers. Newcastle were awarded a free-kick which was fired over the crossbar, but this was a moral victory for the Toon on the day Arsenal took a decisive lead in the title race.
Manchester United 1-1 Newcastle
Played for both
Nicky Butt had a very successful spell at Man Utd, winning a number of medals as the Reds dominated the early years of the Premier League. A little known fact is that David Batty was one of the first to welcome him to St James’ Park, over eight years before he signed, in fact he shook him warmly by the…. throat in a match against the Reds in 1996. Butt signed for NUFC in 2004 and had a number of ups and downs before becoming captain. A highlight of his time on Tyneside was achieving promotion from the Championship in 2010.
Michael Owen is probably the only former Toon player to be universally despised by Newcastle fans, despite scoring the winner in a Tyne-Wear derby. He never looked happy at the Toon and moved to Man Utd as soon as we were relegated in 2009. He spent most of his time there on the bench but is remembered for his late winning goal against Man City.
Martin Dubravka had a rather bizarre relationship with both NUFC and MUFC. He made his Toon debut in a fine 1-0 at home to the Reds as Matt Richie hit home a winner at Leazes End. He also spent time at Old Trafford during the 22/23 season, which meant he was in the cup for the League Cup final against…Man United. As such, he was eventually presented with a winner’s medal at the end of a match his team had just lost.
Managers
Eddie Howe after a 2-2 draw at home to Chelsea:
“It’s difficult because we played so well today. An excellent performance, especially in the first half. Devastated for the boys that we didn’t win. The first half reminded us how good we can be. Athletically so good, and the press was excellent for us too, and we were a real threat. It’s further proof that we are improving. We need more of that. Nick played very well today and had his best game for us. He set the tone at the center of the attack. He ran It’s painful for us because we have been in this position before. All we can do is learn from these experiences and try to improve.
Rubin Amorim after a 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa:
“I think we were the better team today. We were unlucky, even with Bruno’s injury, but during the match we were the better team even without him. We blocked the transitions quite well and they did very well. We did a very good job, which no one will remember tomorrow because it’s about the result. We already knew that Aston Villa played with everyone inside and we had to overload that situation. We trained like that. We used different options, we can use different starting XI depending on the match, so that we are too.” Once again I think we deserved so much more today, but the better team didn’t win.”
Good cause
As it is an away match, Newcastle United fans will not be gathering across the Gallowgate in front of the food bank. However, you can still help and all online cash donations are greatly appreciated. For more information and/or to donate to the food bank online.
Prediction
Newcastle must win this. We have to get our away form in order and rise in the rankings. Nothing less than three points will do and I am confident we will win to make it a very Merry Christmas, Man U 0-2 Newcastle United.
#Manchester #United #Newcastle #United #preview #ahead #Boxing #Day #match