Newcastle host Manchester United at St. James’ Park with both sides sitting outside the top four places and looking for a morale-boosting result to kickstart their league campaigns. Read on for Last Word on Football’s preview and prediction for Newcastle vs Manchester United.
Newcastle vs Manchester United Prediction – United Still Searching for Season-Defining Victory
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Manchester United performed admirably for most of the encounter with Galatasaray in midweek but still showed signs of the vulnerability that has plagued their progress. An early elimination from the Champions League seems likely with Bayern Munich visiting Old Trafford on the final matchday, with the home side needing a victory to have any chance of progressing to the last 16.
However, their league form has picked up in recent weeks with five victories in the last six matches. The 3-0 success over Everton in their last outing was an impressive display, coupled with the defensive resilience that was lacking in Europe. The team defended strongly against a dangerous Galatasaray side, but goalkeeper Andre Onana continued his poor run with two errors to hand a point to the Turkish giants.
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There are positives heading into this one as the goals are starting to flow more freely, with Alejandro Garnacho stepping up with important goals in the last two fixtures. Bruno Fernandes scored a world-class goal, continuing his impressive performances as captain and his work rate will be key here as Newcastle put in a tireless, disciplined display to hold Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
Luke Shaw’s return has added quality and reliability at left-back and it finally seems as if the potential in this Manchester United squad is starting to come to fruition. It does look as if every game is vital for the club at this stage, but this will be a huge indicator of how far Erik ten Hag can lead this team for the remainder of the campaign.
Home Form the Key to Newcastle’s Charge for Honours
It is now just one win from six Premier League away matches for the Toon after the 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth before the international break. This can be contrasted with some impressive home performances, six wins from seven scoring 18 times. It must be noted that the one-away success was an 8-0 win over struggling Sheffield United.
It will be a relief for the Magpies to be on their home patch for this one, after beating Chelsea and Arsenal comfortably here in the last two outings. There are significant injury problems here and that was displayed in the draw with PSG as the options on the bench lacked the quality to impact the game, meaning that a very similar starting eleven will lineup this weekend.
The lack of significant replacements on the bench will impact the club over the festive period as they look for progression in Europe and further success in the cups, but the performance against the French champions will raise optimism levels. There are in-form players in forward areas and with 31 goals trailing just the champions Manchester City, the Magpies will be excited at the prospect of facing a Manchester United side they beat 3-0 in the Carabao Cup fourth round.
Recent Head-To-Head
The Carabao Cup thrashing for Newcastle made it successive victories over Manchester United after a 2-0 win over the Red Devils in April where Joe Willock and Callum Wilson were the goalscorers. This ended a seven-game winless run in this fixture, stretching back to October 2019.
Casemiro and Marcus Rashford were on target in United’s last win in this fixture, where they triumphed 2-0 in last season’s league cup. Manchester United’s last league win was a 4-1 win in September 2021 and they won by the same scoreline in their most recent league win at St. James Park in October 2020.
Harry Maguire, Fernandes, Rashford and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who scored his first Premier League goal, were the goalscorers on this occasion.
Newcastle vs Manchester United Prediction
🎙️ Eddie Howe has been speaking to the media ahead of #NEWMUN and started by giving his reflections on Tuesday night:
"A lot of disappointment afterwards, we were minutes away from a historical result in our season. We have to move forward and look forward to the next game. The… pic.twitter.com/OD0PRU1N5i
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) December 1, 2023
It is very difficult to make a prediction for Manchester United games currently, but there is little doubt that performances are improving. There are still question marks in midfield, but Kobbie Mainoo was impressive in his cameo in midweek and may be the short-term solution to add a layer of solidity to a very open middle of the park.
Injuries are having a major impact at Newcastle, but they will be confident that they have enough in the available options to impose themselves on this weekend’s opponents. It will be interesting to see how much the PSG game took out of the players, as they were cruelly denied a historic win due to a controversial penalty decision in stoppage time.
This one may start as a cagey affair, as a defeat for either side would be a major blow and will see them lose ground on the sides above them, but it does seem as though it is starting to click for Manchester United. If they can avoid any individual errors, they may come out of this one with a massive three points.
