The opening set of festive fixtures in the Premier League concludes with the Monday Night Football which comes from St James’ Park as Newcastle United look to give themselves some hope at the bottom of the table when they host Manchester United.
The Red Devils have dropped down to seventh after a period of inactivity but they can move up to fifth if they win this match. Newcastle will move level on points with Watford who are the team above the relegation zone looking in.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Monday Night Football programme. The show will be on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League channels and begins at 7pm. Kick off at St James’ Park is at 8pm.
Newcastle United
I think everyone knows that this has been a mess of a season so far for Newcastle United. They have won just one of their 18 matches but incredibly they are still only three points from safety. There seems to be a consensus that they will strengthen significantly in January so if they can pinch anything from this week then that would have to be a bonus. In many ways this is a free hit for them because their season isn’t going to be judged on what they do against Manchester United.
If the Toon are going to stay up this season then they have to find a way of stopping goals against. They are averaging well over two goals a match against them and you don’t stay up defending like that. 11 of them have gone past them in their last three matches. You would imagine under Eddie Howe they will score enough goals to keep competitive but if they don’t keep them out of their own net then that will be all in vain.
Manchester United
This has been a very hit and miss campaign for Manchester United so far as well hence why they disposed of the services of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The immediate aim for his replacement Ralf Rangnick is to find some consistency within this side. Man for man they are good enough to be in the top four but being that good on paper is no use if you are not going it on the field of play. There has already been improvements since the arrival of the German, but perhaps not to the level that will be needed long-term.
United were always a good side on their travels under Solskjaer and they will be hoping to maintain that record here in a match they will be expected to win. The Red Devils haven’t played for a while because of Covid and while that will have denied Rangnick the change to get his charges on the training ground he would have been able to install his philosophy on his players, be it in person with those without Covid or via a video call. We should expect to see some improvement from them here.
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Team News
Newcastle United will be without the suspended Isaac Hayden for this match while defensive trio Federico Fernandez, Paul Dummett and Jamal Lewis are all out. There are also doubts over Jonjo Shelvey too.
Manchester United have reported a clean bill of health after shutting down due to Covid-19 recently. They continue to operate without Paul Pogba who is injured but Raphael Varane and Edinson Cavani are said to be available.
Betting
I think you have to begin with the line of thought that Manchester United will win this match. I’ve seen nothing from Newcastle United to suggest they are going to be able to handle one of the better sides in the competition. United aren’t much value at around the 8/15 shot though so I’m going to add them to win and over 2.5 goals into the equation. There is every chance the Old Trafford outfit could find the required three goals themselves here but Newcastle aren’t guaranteed to not score.
The fact that Man Utd haven’t played for a couple of weeks should see everyone go in very fresh here and if they can allow their quality to come through then I would expect them to have more than enough to get the job done here. Newcastle have conceded four to both Manchester City and Leicester recently while Liverpool would have been good value for more than the three they scored in between those two games. A high scoring Man Utd win looks the order of the day to me.
Tips
Back Man Utd to win and over 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
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