Kick-off: 1730, 26/12/2019
Stadium: Old Trafford
TV: Amazon Prime
Manchester United’s travel sickness returned when they were beaten at lowly Watford but the Red Devils will seek to protect a solid home record when entertaining Newcastle.
The Red Devils are unbeaten in 12 games at Old Trafford in all competitions, winning seven of those fixtures, and have prevailed in this fixture for the past two seasons.
David De Gea will be keen to make amends for his howler against the Hornets, while only Crystal Palace have taken fewer shots per Premier League match than the Magpies this term.
That makes 23/20 for a home win to nil stand out for our initial Man Utd vs Newcastle prediction.
A Look At Manchester United’s Betting Odds
De Gea’s bizarre blunder and a rash challenge by Aaron Wan-Bissaka saw two of United’s most reliable performers contribute towards their own downfall at Vicarage Road.
The Red Devils lacked intensity, verve and quality in that 2-0 reversal, which was a bitter pill to swallow coming after such fine wins against Tottenham and Manchester City earlier this month.
“We’re halfway through this season and we knew it was going to be a season of some ups and downs,” said Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“This season will be used to find a team and a squad for next season, but hopefully we can speed this process up by getting more results.
“Expect us to be more consistent, definitely more experienced and learning from these setbacks, but at the moment we’re a little bit further behind than what I was hoping for, yeah.”
One of the few positives at Vicarage Road was the impressive return of Paul Pogba, who had been out since September with an ankle injury.
The 26-year-old looked sharp when he came off the bench and was involved in several decent chances.
Pogba’s creativity should give Anthony Martial a boost up front and his compatriot has netted in this fixture for the past couple of seasons.
Looking at the Man Utd vs Newcastle odds, Martial appeals at 13/4 to break the deadlock.
Last Man Utd line-up: De Gea, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, Wan-Bissaka, Lingard, Fred, James, McTominay, Martial, Rashford.
A Look At Newcastle United’s Betting Odds
Newcastle climbed alongside their next opponents on 25 points thanks to a 1-0 home win over Crystal Palace, with Miguel Almiron scoring his first goal for the club late on.
That was a third victory in four outings for the Magpies, who started off a good period of six wins in 11 when beating the Red Devils by the same scoreline at St James’ Park.
Those victories have come largely courtesy of perspiration rather than inspiration, but Steve Bruce hailed the spirit being shown by his players.
He said: “We’ve given ourselves a nice platform, but we’re only halfway there, so we’ve got to show the same resilience and spirit that we’ve shown over the last few months and see where it takes us.
“I can’t fault their attitude and spirit, because at the end of the day, we set them up and they have got to show they’re resolute, difficult to play against and difficult to beat.”
The fear here is that just being dogged may not be enough to hold off technically superior opponents for the full 90 minutes, but few people will be expecting the Magpies to take a big beating.
Let’s add 13/5 for a home win and under 2.5 goals to our Man Utd vs Newcastle betting tips, as the stats certainly support such an outcome.
Last Newcastle line-up: Dubravka, Dummett, Schar, Fernandez, Manquillo, Lejeune, Shelvey, Hayden, Almiron, Carroll, Joelinton.
Additional stats
Last result:
Watford 2-0 MAN UTD
NEWCASTLE 1-0 Crystal Palace – Miguel Almiron
Head-to-head: Newcastle 1-0 Man Utd, Newcastle 0-2 Man Utd, Man Utd 3-2 Newcastle, Newcastle 1-0 Man Utd, Man Utd 4-1 Newcastle
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