Top-four places are up for grabs as Manchester United battles out Newcastle United in a pivotal encounter at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils had to wait for a late winner to break Omonia Nicosia’s resistance two days before at this ground while Newcastle United extend their unbeaten run to four Premier League games with a 5-1 thumping of Brentford.
MUN vs NEW Match Details
Date: Saturday, 15 October 2022
Time: 14:00 (BST) / 18:30 (IST)
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester
MUN vs NEW Match Preview
A ninety-plus-three minute-winner from substitute Scott Mctominay rescued all three points in a tense 1-0 win for Manchester United against Cypriot club Omonia Nicosia in the Europa League. The visitors produced a dogged defensive performance to keep the score line goalless until that moment with United fan himself, goalkeeper Francis Uzoho cherishing the occasion of facing his beloved team by making an outstanding 12 saves in the game. Not only that, the Red Devils piled up the misery for themselves with their wastefulness shown by just one goal out of 34 shots attempted. Manager Erik Ten Hag is adamant that goals will come in plenty soon citing Manchester United have forwards capable of scoring 20 goals or more in a season. Till now Antony and Marcus Rashford are the joint top scorer for the Red Devils with three goals each. The Brazilian winger has made a steady impact since signing for the club by scoring in three consecutive games so far including the equalizer in the 2-1 comeback victory against Everton last weekend. Rashford has shown his resurgence in Europe as well with Cristiano Ronaldo finally tasting goals and hitting his 700th in the last Premier League game. With Martial likely to miss out on the next game and Jadon Sancho under firing, Cristiano Ronaldo will start against Newcastle facing the same opposition he made his second Manchester United debut at Old Trafford last season. Ten Hag’s men are not quite ready to hit the heights expected from the manager and everyone around but has managed to lift themselves up to fifth in the Premier League chart with only a point separating them for the fourth Champions League spot currently hold by Chelsea. Keeping aside the humiliating defeat in the Manchester derby earlier this month and forgetful first two games of the season, United have done well with five wins in the locker. However, the Red Devils are entering into a fierce schedule where they will face Newcastle, Tottenham, Chelsea and West Ham all in 15 days.
Ten Hag’s side will be wary of Newcastle United spiking up the table and doing an impressive job in the first full season of the Saudi-led consortium. In the last two Premier League games, the Magpies showed they are to be taken seriously now with 4-1 and 5-1 romping of Fulham and Brentford respectively. While both the teams faced are currently behind the Toons, one cannot deny the character shown by the side who were fighting relegation this time of the year last season. The change of ownership of the club has also crossed its one year and with some top names arriving at St James’s Park, Newcastle are a more forward-thinking team this time around. Manager Eddie Howe has admitted the recent string of great results has created a buzz around the group. The Black and Whites are standing beneath Manchester United, the opposition they travel to next, with 14 points registered from nine games so far. They have won three, drawn five and only lost to Liverpool at Anfield last month that too being a winner in the dying minutes of the game by Fabio Carvalho. Newcastle are now in the mix to possibly challenge for the Champions League football which will be a truly magnificent achievement if they manage a top-four place at the end of the season. Lots of football to be played before the Magpies even get an assurance of it and they can start their quest by picking up a win at Old Trafford, a ground that has eluded them since their last win in 2013. That was also the only victory in the last 37 visits to the theatre of dreams for Newcastle with 27 losses and 10 draws. However, this could be the right moment for Eddie Howe’s men to turn the records in their favor with their goal-scoring brilliance mounting a threat to Manchester United’s defense which had kept only two clean sheets in the league and has struggled with counter-attacks lately something which Newcastle is wishing to exploit using the pace of star winger Allan Saint-Maxmin as he done to their neighbors Manchester City two months ago. The Toons have only Tottenham to face as a top-four proposition in the next four games so will fancy their chances to take maximum points out of these games.
Recent Form (all competitions)
MUN: WWWLW
Recent Form (league)
MUN: WLWWW
NUFC: WWDDL
MUN vs NEW Team News
Erik Ten Hag admits it is early to say about Anthony Martial’s fitness to play this weekend after coming off injured at Goodison Park to be replaced by winning goal scorer Cristiano Ronaldo in the 25th minute. The Frenchman’s progress will be monitored in the hours before the clash with Newcastle. Harry Maguire will once again miss out due to his hamstring injury but his return won’t be for long. Goalkeeper Martin Dubravka will be ineligible to face the side he is loaned from. Anyway, he won’t be starting ahead of David De Gea who is set to make his 500th appearance for the club. Tom Heaton is selected to be the second-choice keeper in this game. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Axel Tuanzebe, Brandon Williams and Donny van de Beek have all been injured. Raphael Varane made the substitute bench in the win over Omonia Nicosia on Thursday but appears to be fit to start this game. Scott McTominay is suspended for the clash overstepping the limit of yellow cards so Casemiro is set to start in midfield for the third game running. His national teammate Fred started alongside him in the Europa League game although it is reasonable that Christian Eriksen will regain his spot in the starting eleven on Sunday.
Newcastle United will not have their Swedish striker Alexander Isak available for the game as he continues to progress from his muscle injury suffered in the last international break. Eddie Howe says midfielder Jonjo Shelvey is getting closer to a return from his hamstring problem but has not done full training yet. Matt Richie has picked up a calf problem with no return date yet. Karl Darlow continues to struggle with an ankle injury while Emil Kraft has started his rehab back with his family in Sweden in a bid to return from his ligament injury. He is reportedly out till May of next year.
MUN vs NEW Predicted Lineups
MUN: De Gea; Diogo Dalot, Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw; Casemiro, Christian Eriksen; Antony, Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Cristiano Ronaldo
NUFC: Nick Pope; Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Sven Botman, Dan Burn; Sean Longstaff, Bruno Guimaraes, Joe Willock; Saint-Maximin, Callum Wilson, Miguel Almiron
MUN vs NEW Head to Head
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a memorable brace in the 4-1 win against Newcastle in his second debut with the club at Old Trafford last season with Bruno Fernandes and Jesse Lingard, presently of Nottingham Forest scoring the goals. Javier Manquilo scored the only goal for the Magpies.
MUN vs NEW Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: De Gea (7)
DEF: Trippier (8), Schar (7.5), L Martinez (8), Dalot (7.5)
MID: Antony (9), B Fernandes (8.5), Guimaraes (8.5), Eriksen (8.5)
FW: Saint-Maximin (9), Rashford (9)
Captain: Antony
Vice-captain: Marcus Rashford
Stay tuned to Fantasy Football for upcoming matches
