Kick-off: 1500, 11/09/2021
Stadium: Old Trafford
All eyes will be on the second coming of Cristiano Ronaldo when Manchester United entertain Newcastle and this looks a good game to return for.
The Red Devils did the double over the Magpies by a 7-2 aggregate last season and have won four straight Old Trafford meetings, which have produced 19 goals.
Let’s follow those trends and go with 5/4 for a home win and over 3.5 goals in the game for our first Man Utd vs Newcastle prediction.
A Look At Manchester United’s Betting Odds
After finishing a fine second behind neighbours City last term, Manchester United have made a solid start to the current Premier League campaign.
They thrashed Leeds 5-1 on the opening weekend at this venue before drawing 1-1 at Southampton and then winning 1-0 away to Wolves.
The Red Devils were far from convincing on both of those road trips but will be hoping the capture of Ronaldo provides them with an extra edge.
Jesse Lingard has backed the five-time Ballon d’Or winner to have a tremendous impact at Old Trafford.
“He’ll settle in very quickly, he’ll help the team tremendously this season,” said the midfielder, who mimicked Ronaldo’s famous goal celebration after netting for England against Andorra.
Some pundits have naturally pointed out that Ronaldo is now 36 and has obviously aged since leaving the club for Real Madrid a dozen years ago.
However, he was the leading scorer in Serie A last term with 29 goals, five more than Romelu Lukaku, and arrives fresh from setting a new world record for international strikes with Portugal.
His late headed double in a 2-1 defeat of Republic of Ireland perfectly highlighted how the hunger, desire and sheer will to win remain undiminished.
Looking at the Man Utd vs Newcastle odds, we like 19/2 for a 3-1 home victory.
Last Man Utd line-up: De Gea, Maguire, Varane, Shaw, Wan-Bissaka, Pogba, Fred, Fernandes, James, Greenwood, Sancho.
Jadon Sancho is available despite pulling out of the England squad through injury. Fred could be ruled out due to Brazil requesting their Premier League-based players do not participate.
Alex Telles will not feature and Scott McTominay may also miss out, but Dean Henderson (Covid-19) is making good progress. Marcus Rashford, Phil Jones and Amad Diallo are out.
A Look At Newcastle United’s Betting Odds
Newcastle kicked off with losses to West Ham and Aston Villa and a 2-2 home draw with Southampton did little to appease supporters angered by a lack of significant transfer activity.
The Magpies turned in a woeful first-half display at St James’ Park and were fortunate to go in 0-0 at the break, with their head coach having had to listen to chants of “We want Brucie out”.
They improved in the second half and led twice through Callum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximin but James Ward-Prowse earned Saints a point with a penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Asked about the cat-calls, Bruce said: “Look, they’re entitled to their opinion. Our first-half performance wasn’t good enough, so I’ll accept that.
“In the second half, we were a bit more like ourselves, we played with a bit more intensity, we passed the ball to each other better and maybe did enough to win the match.
“We took the lead twice again, we took the lead twice against West Ham, but we’ve only got one point to show for it.”
Only Sheffield United conceded more goals between 60:01 and 75:00 minutes than Newcastle last season and they are already 0-4 down in that period this term.
Let’s finish off our Man Utd vs Newcastle betting tips by taking 31/20 for the Red Devils to outscore their opponents in this 15-minute section here.
Last Newcastle line-up: Woodman, Schar, Lascelles, Fernandez, Ritchie, Murphy, Almiron, Willock, S Longstaff, Wilson, Saint-Maximin.
Newcastle striker Wilson is out with a thigh injury and Ryan Fraser is also absent, having withdrawn from the Scotland squad with an ankle problem.
Karl Darlow has returned to training following a bout of Covid-19. Paul Dummett, Jonjo Shelvey (both calf) and Isaac Hayden (knee) are closing in on returns with Martin Dubravka (foot) working his way back to fitness.
Additional stats
Last result:
Wolves 0-1 MAN UTD – Mason Greenwood
NEWCASTLE 2-2 Southampton – Callum Wilson, Allan Saint-Maximin
Head-to-head: Man Utd 3-1 Newcastle, Newcastle 1-4 Man Utd, Man Utd 4-1 Newcastle, Newcastle 1-0 Man Utd, Newcastle 0-2 Man Utd, Man Utd 3-2 Newcastle
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