For 2019-20 Manchester United, certain individual games have been the best of times, and others have been the worst of times. Let’s take a look at some results this season shall we: won vs. currently fourth place Chelsea 4-0, Won vs. currently second place Leicester 1-0, won vs. two time reigning league champions Man City 2-1, won vs. perennial top three finisher Tottenham 2-1.
Oh and they’re the only side to take points from a meeting with table toppers Liverpool this season! Now let’s look at the down side: lost vs. currently 16th place West Ham 2-0, lost vs. currently ninth place Newcastle 1-0, lost vs. 14th place Bournemouth 1-0, lost vs. absolute bottom side Watford (who won a total of one game all season, entering last weekend) 2-0.
So what could happen tomorrow on Boxing Day- with the return fixture against Newcastle? Well, it’s just like Christmas presents- you don’t know what you’re going to get! In turning to team news, defenders Eric Bailly (knee) and Timothy Fosu-Mensah (knee) are out while another defender, Diogo Dalot (groin) is questionable.
Last week, in the loss to Watford, Paul Pogba played for the first time since Sept. 30, coming on as a second half substitute. It seems he’s going to go the full 90 here, as manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer heaped an insane amount of praise upon him here.
“It might be that we do get him in from the start because you just want to get more and more into the team when he plays,” Solskjaer said.
“He can play anywhere, he can play the whole midfield, he is a box-to-box midfielder. He can drop deep, get it and play them long passes. He can get higher up and combine like he did on Sunday. It depends on the game. That’s the beauty of having Paul because he is the best all-round midfielder in the world, he can do all the roles. It’s great to have him back.”
Well, that’s certainly some heavy praise right there “best all around midfielder in the world?” OGS certainly supports his players.
In turning to the visitors, Allan Saint-Maximin (hamstring), Jamaal Lascelles (knee), Ciaran Clark (calf), Matt Ritchie (ankle) are all out Ki Sung-Yeung (knock) while Paul Dummett (groin) and Jetro Willems (groin) are questionable.
Manchester United vs Newcastle FYIs
Thursday Dec 26, Old Trafford 5:30 p.m.
MUFC Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Form Guide: Manchester United- LDWWD Newcastle- WLWWD
Google Result Probability: Manchester United 70%, Draw 20%, Newcastle win 10%
Prediction: Manchester United 1, Newcastle 1
If you can’t take care of business here, and do it convincingly, well, it’s been the story all season long.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.