Newcastle vs. Man United
Venue: St James’ Park
Kick off: 3:15PM
Manchester United will look to build on their win over Huddersfield Town last weekend when they travel to struggling Newcastle United in the Premier League this afternoon.
The Red Devils have a five-point cushion over third-placed Liverpool in the table, and will fancy their chances of overcoming a Newcastle side that are without a win in their last four Premier League matches.
Newcastle are in a dogfight at this stage of the season, but in front of a vocal St James’ Park, they will be confident of causing United problems.
The Magpies are without a win in their last four in the league, however, with their last three points arriving away to Stoke City on New Year’s Day.
Since then, they have drawn with Swansea City, Burnley and Crystal Palace, in addition to suffering a 3-1 defeat at Manchester City.
It is far from disastrous form, but winning at home has been a big problem for Rafael Benitez’s side during the 2017-18 campaign.
It is a tough few weeks for Newcastle as they face United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in three of their next five Premier League matches, and Benitez will be extremely wary of what a poor run of form could mean.
There is a lot of history between Newcastle and United though, and the home supporters will be looking to crank up the atmosphere in a bid to drive their team to what would be three massive points this afternoon.
United’s attention will now switch to the Premier League as they look to build on last weekend’s 2-0 win over Huddersfield that saw the team bounce back from their 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on January 31.
The gap to league leaders City is still a hefty 16 points, and Mourinho all but conceded the title to the Citizens last week.
Second appears to be the target for the 20-time English champions, and they will be looking for their eighth Premier League away win of the campaign.
The Premier League title might be gone, but United will be eyeing success in both the FA Cup and Champions League this term.
It could yet be a brilliant season for the club, even if they have to watch neighbours City lift the title.
Newcastle possible XI: Darlow, Yedlin, Lascelles, Clark, Dummett, Ritchie, Diame, Shelvey, Kenedy, Perez, Gayle.
Man United possible XI: De Gea, Valencia, Jones, Smalling, Young, Pogba, Matic, Martial, Lingard, Sanchez, Lukaku.