Manchester United v Newcastle United - Premier League match preview
Old Trafford Coming up next we have one of those fixtures I tend to dread during the course of the season. Manchester United away,or at all to be fair, is not a fixture that has been full of rich pickings for us over the years.
And after picking up just one point in our opening two games of the season it could be argued that the need to pick up points in a traditionally awful fixture for us is actually quite acute. Surely it's not panic stations just yet though?
Well no it isn't and shouldn't be as we're still in August, but with a recent tendency to drift into excruciatingly long streaks without wins or points it is something I, and I'm sure others, are quite keen to avoid. To make matters worse we have an audience with BT Sport to contend with so many eyes will be watching just how we perform at Old Trafford. Incidentally, it's the word 'perform' I like to focus on in games like this.
It was the performance in the game at Swansea that was sadly lacking closely followed by a lack of discipline by Daryl Janmaat which, when combined, meant we were destined to leave South Wales with nothing. It's hard enough to play at the Liberty Stadium without going a goal down within ten minutes and playing more than half the match with ten men. But in the end at least we shut up shop tactically and stopped ourselves from being on the end of one of those all to frequent hammerings.
Manchester United:
In a boost for United's (our United, the proper one) ropey defence, the Red Devils will be without the services of Phil Jones and Marouane Fellaini who miss out through injury and suspension respectively. Also absent will be David de Gea who has been told that he will not be selected by Louis van Gaal until the transfer window is shut and his future is resolved, at least until January.
Newcastle:
As alluded to earlier, Daryl Janmaat will miss out through suspension following his silly antics at the Liberty Stadium. Moussa Sissoko is unlikely to feature after picking up a muscle strain in that same game and being substituted at half-time while Paul Dummett edges closer to a return but is yet to regain match fitness.
New signing Florian Thauvin could be in line to make his debut for the club after the completion of his move from Marseille while Cheik Tiote may make his first start of the campaign meaning that Vurnon Anota will drop back into the right-back slot to cover the absent Janmaat.
Previously...
Look away. Look away now.
We've only managed one league win at Old Trafford in the Premier League era which came back in December 2013 courtesy of a goal from Yohan Cabaye. Remember that one? You should because you then have to be of a certain age to remember our previous league victory at Old Trafford which came in February 2012.
In fact in all of our games in all competitions at Manchester United (77 games) we've only won on 10 occasions and walked away with a draw on 20 occasions. The other 47 games have ended in defeat with our biggest one being a 6-0 defeat in the 2007/2008 season. Although on a positive note we did once win 7-1 at Old Trafford although I doubt anyone on here witnessed that as it was 1927. Well maybe Icedog did....
Stats and facts...
Newcastle have lost 25 Premier League games against Manchester United. So basically they've beaten us more than any other team has managed to beat us.
Manchester United have won 15 of their last 19 league games at Old Trafford.
Wayne Rooney has scored 12 Premier League goals against Newcastle. Only Aston Villa have fared worse having seen the striker score 14 goals against them.
Final thought...
Not quite final though but I've been having a chat with the lads over at theunitedpages.com which you can read here and sums up my thoughts on the game and some of my thoughts on NUFC in general.
In short I'm feeling too confident about this weekend and just hope for an improved performance.
Howay the lads!
Date: Saturday, 22nd August, 2015
Time: 12:45pm - Live on BT Sport
Venue: Old Trafford
