Manchester United v Newcastle United preview ahead of Boxing Day clash

Welcome to the Manchester United v Newcastle United preview.

Thursday 26th December and an 8pm kick-off.

The real United travel to Manchester this Boxing Day hoping for 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’s no reason why we can’t start to put this right with matches away at Man U and Burnley four days apart.

Form

Newcastle have won three, drawn two and lost just one of their past six league matches. Wins have come against Man City, Burnley and Everton whereas we’ve drawn at home to both Tottenham and Chelsea in matches the Toon Army were desperately disappointed not to gain all three points. Our one loss in the past six has come away at our arch-rivals where a complete non-performance was punished by an own goal in a devastating loss. We’ve scored twelve goals and conceded eight. The eleven points gained has us eleventh in the league and a win could see us as high as seventh on goal difference.

Man U have won two, drawn two and lost two of their last six league matches. Victories have come against Wolves and Crystal Palace, whereas draws have come at home against Bournemouth and West Ham. They’ve been defeated by Aston Villa and Everton. They’ve scored thirteen goals and conceded ten. These eight points have helped them to seventh in the league and a win could see them in the top four.

Last time out

The Toon hosted Chelsea last weekend and United took the game to their opponents from the very first whistle. Woltemade opened the scoring after just three minutes before doubling the advantage with a well taken second. Saint Nick then missed a golden chance for his hat-trick as United threatened to run riot. Unfortunately, not scoring a third was to prove costly as Chelsea were given a chance to regroup with the score 2-0 at half-time. The second half was just a few minutes old when James fired in a free-kick to reduce the arrears and the next goal was always going to be absolutely crucial in deciding the destination of the points. It looked like NUFC were going to be given a golden opportunity to regain a two goal lead when Gordon was barged over in the box. Incredibly, the referee missed this stonewall penalty that unbelievably survived a VAR check. Typically, Chelsea equalised soon after and both teams knew that another goal would likely be the winner. Newcastle then created and squandered two golden chances to send the stadium into raptures, firstly Harvey Barnes volleyed wide at the back past and then Elanga sprinted the length of the pitch but opted to fire a shot wide rather than pass to two unmarked teammates. The Toon were forced to settle for a point that many would have settled for pre-match but was disappointing in the circumstances as we continued our alarming trend of dropping points from winning positions.

Man United travelled to Aston Villa on Sunday and went down to a 2-1 defeat, to the surprise package of the season so far. A depleted Man United went behind on the stroke of half-time but were able to level immediately to ensure a half-time score of 1-1. Villa scored the only goal of the second half and Man United were left to rue a hamstring injury to captain Fernandes that forced him off at half-time.

Stat attack!

-Newcastle have won two and drawn one of their past four visits to Old Trafford in all competitions.
-The Toon have only failed to find the net once in their past nine away games with Man United.
-NUFC have won five of the last six meetings between the sides.

Memorable match

In April 1998, The Toon were on a high having reached their first FA Cup Final for twenty-four years. Man United on the other hand were desperately trying to keep ahead of an Arsenal team who were relentlessly chasing them down in the hunt for the title.

Newcastle travelled to Old Trafford and opened the scoring in just the eleventh minute when Andreas Andersson scored his second goal in two games. David Beckham equalised before half-time but the real story came in the second half.

Newcastle defended resolutely for forty-five minutes in the face of constant pressure. In the last moments of the match, an attack from the red devils broke down and Ketsbaia released Robert Lee who was completely through on goal. The scene was set for our first away win over Man United for over twenty years until Lee was deliberately and cynically hacked down by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was immediately given a red card before being cheered down the tunnel by a bunch of glory seekers. Newcastle were awarded a free-kick that was fired over the bar but this was a moral victory for the Toon on the day that Arsenal took a decisive lead in the title race.
Man United 1-1 Newcastle

Played for both

Nicky Butt enjoyed 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 a good 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 being made captain. A highlight of his time on Tyneside was helping achieve 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. Never looking happy at the Toon, he jumped ship 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 a 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 when Matt Richie smashed home a winner at the Leazes End. He also spent time at Old Trafford on loan during the 22/23 season, meaning he was cup tied for the League Cup final against…Man United. As such he ended up being awarded a winners medal at the end of a match that 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 outstanding performance, especially in the first half. Devastated for the lads that we didn’t get the win. The first half was a reminder of 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 evidence that we are improving. We need more of that. Nick played really well today, had his best game for us. He set the tone as the focal point of the attack. He ran tirelessly and took his chances brilliantly. 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. If we had those points back, we would have been in a different position.”

Rubin Amorim after losing 2-1 to Aston Villa:

“I think we were the better team today. We were unlucky, even with the injury of Bruno, but during the game even without him we were the better team. We blocked the transitions quite well and they did really well. We did a very good job that no one is going to remember tomorrow because what matters is the result. We already knew that Aston Villa play with everybody inside and we needed to overload that situation. We have been training like that. We did different options, we can use different starting elevens depending on the game, so we are improving. Again I think we deserved so much more today but the better team did not win.”

Charity

As it is an away match, Newcastle United fans will not be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end, for the food bank. However, you can still help out and all online cash donations are very much appreciated. For further info and/or to donate to the food bank online.

Prediction

Newcastle need to win this. We have to sort our away form out and climb the league table. Nothing less than three points will do and I’m confident we’ll win to make this a very Merry Christmas, Man U 0-2 Newcastle United.