Manchester United Manager Jose Mourinho met the media a few minutes ago to preview his side’s home clash against Newcastle United. There was a ton of ground covered in this one, but the biggest news here is the return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Marcos Rojo. Yes, all three are now back, and in contention for selection tomorrow.
We have video of the entire session is available below via YouTube:
Obviously, the biggest takeaway from this session is the long awaited return of the three injured players who have been out a substantial amount of time.
We have much more on that over at this link.
However, there is also a record on the line here. United have not conceded a Premier League goal at home since April, and shutting out Newcastle would break Sir Alex Ferguson’s record. Additionally, if the Red Devils avoid defeat against the Magpies they will extend their unbeaten run at Old Trafford to 38 across all competition.
The last time that happened was between December 1998 and April 2000.
Mourinho, though, is only interested in getting back on track after defeat to Chelsea in their last match before the international break.
“We don’t play for records and if you concede a goal but we score two at least I’m happy,” he said. “The objective is to win matches at home, the objective is not to concede goals, of course if you don’t concede you are closer to winning matches but that is not an obsession for us.
“The record means absolutely nothing for us. We lost the last match, we need points. I know the way Newcastle plays and the way Rafael Benitez prepares his teams. We need to get back to the points we need.”
Man United Injury Report: go to this link
MUFC starting XI prediction: go to this link
Match odds
Man Utd: 2/7
Draw: 4/1
Newcastle: 11/1
As always, feel free to post your own starting XI and/or score prediction in the comments section below, and feel free to comment on other starting XI, score predictions that you’ve seen elsewhere online.
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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