Manchester United versus Newcastle United is one of the most lopsided series in the Premier League. It resumes Saturday at Old Trafford in late afternoon/early evening kickoff.
United have won 22 and lost just one of their last 32 league games at Old Trafford against Newcastle (W22 D9 L1). The Magpies have lost 25 times against the Red Devils in the Premier League; only versus Arsenal have they lost as many games in this competition. Additionally, they have lost 84 matches in all competitions against the Red Devils, more than against any other club in their history.
So you can see why United are so heavily favored in this one, as eight outings in all competitions at the Theatre of Dreams have yielded a perfect eight wins, with 24 goals scored and just one conceded. So let’s get to the injury/fitness report. You can check out the MUFC starting XI prediction at this link.
United Central defender Phil Jones returned to the club from England early this break after limping off injured in Three Lions’ 0-0 draw with Germany.
He will be good to go. Fellow defender Marcos Rojo has revealed he is targeting a first-team return in December. He played 45 minutes with the U23s last night. This was his first game action in 209 days. Paul Pogba won’t be ready in time for this contest, but he is also on the mend.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Michael Carrick are out too.
On the other side, Christian Atsu, Jamaal Lascelles and Mikel Merino are doubts for the Magpies. Meanwhile there has been no news leaked about the status of goalkeeper Rob Elliot. He left the Ireland squad just before their World Cup play-off defeat to Denmark due to a family bereavement. Paul Dummett is back in training for the first time since he picked up an injury just seven minutes into the season’s curtain raise, and he is in contention for this one.
Match odds
Man Utd: 2/7
Draw: 4/1
Newcastle: 11/1
United may even find themselves in must-win territory by the time they take the pitch Saturday. Table-topping Manchester City will move 11 points clear of them if they win at Leicester City, a game that kicks off two and half hours prior to this one.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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