England Premier League
Monday 27th December 2021
Kick off at 8pm GMT
Venue: St. James' Park
Match Preview:
The Monday night game will take place between two United teams but it will be the visitors who will be installed as the easy favourites.
Newcastle will be counting down the days until the January transfer window opens because even though the club were taken over and Mike Ashley has finally gone from the club, very little has changed. The Magpies have won just one game this season and Eddie Howe has a real battle on his hands to get the club out of the relegation zone.
Newcastle are in 19th place with 10 points and a win here would not take them out of the bottom three but obviously would be a huge boost for the club. Howe’s side have lost their last 3 games coming into this one with defeats against Leicester, Liverpool and Manchester City. That’s quite a trio of fixtures to have to face and the Magpies shipped 11 goals in those games, many will expect more goals to be leaked in this game too.
Because of the new Covid-19 outbreak Manchester United have not played a game for the past two weeks. United’s objective will be about finishing in 4th place and they are currently 5 points behind Arsenal but have 2 games in hand over them. Form has been good and the club come into this encounter unbeaten in their last four games. That includes winning 3 in a row, and under new manager Ralf Rangnick they have a 100% record.
Under Rangnick United have played Crystal Palace and Norwich with both games won but feeling underwhelming in 1-0 close wins. United have only lost one game in two months away from home and have the fifth best record in the league with 2 defeats from 8 games played and have won 50% of their matches on the road. The club would go 5th with a win as long as West Ham lose or draw their Boxing Day clash against Southampton.
Team News:
Newcastle: Paul Dummett has finally recovered from injury but has some fitness issues, he could be assessed for this game but remains a doubt. Isaac Hayden is suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season. Fernandez is out long term with his thigh injury. Emil Krafth was ill but has recovered and is expected to return for this game. Jonjo Shelvey will be assessed after a recent muscle injury and Javier Manquillo is expected to return after illness.
Manchester United: The only injury worry for United is Paul Pogba who has been out for some time with his thigh injury.
Newcastle vs Man Utd Head to Head:
Last season this fixture finished in a comprehensive 4-1 victory for Manchester United.
Manchester United have won the last four meetings in a row.
From the last seven meetings Newcastle have won just once.
The last four meetings have all seen both teams to score.
Newcastle vs Man Utd Prediction:
In simplistic terms Newcastle are in a bad way although they have had some really tough fixtures lately and this will be another one. The worry is the lack of goals in the team and they are shipping too easily. There is an incredible recent statistic of goals in these fixtures and while we normally quote over 2.5 goals, this is for over 3.5 goals and the recent return on this is 70%.
When the two teams played earlier this season in the reverse fixture Manchester United won 4-1 and that game is remembered for Cristiano Ronaldo’s return in a United shirt which seen him score 2 goals. By his standards Ronaldo has been quiet under Rangnick, so it will be interesting to see if he can spring back to his best in this game. Manchester United have looked solid under Rangnick, the job is getting done but at the same time fans would love to see a few more goals in their games and Newcastle could be the perfect opposition for United at this time.
Newcastle vs Man Utd Betting Tips:
Asian handicap (-1 Manchester United) at 1.75
Anytime goalscorer: Cristiano Ronaldo at 1.66
Anytime goalscorer: Bruno Fernandes at 2.25
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