Manchester United vs Newcastle United Preview

Manchester United will look to end 2024 on a winning note when they welcome Newcastle United to Old Trafford on Monday.

It has been a year to forget for Manchester United who have lost 13 of the 36 league games they have played this calendar year (W14, D9). Four of those losses have come this month with Man United’s last two games ending in back-to-back losses to Bournemouth and Wolves.

Ominously, they failed to score in both games, resulting in the Red Devils slumping to an outrageously low 14th in the table. Head coach Ruben Amorim’s insistence that his side needs to “survive” made fans wonder whether he was referring to their current slump or the season in general.

His desperation comes as little surprise as the five defeats Amorim has suffered in his first ten matches is the most of any new United manager since Walter Crickmer in 1932, while his side stand on the verge of losing five league games in the same calendar month for the first time in over 62 years.

But despite United’s poor form, this fixture may be just what the Red Devils need as they’ve lost just one of the last 39 league meetings on home turf (W28, D10).

However, the Magpies look a different beast nowadays. The visitors remarkably travel to Old Trafford as narrow favourites after a formidable run of form that’s seen them win their last three league games by an aggregate score of 11-0.

The 3-0 crushing of ten-man Aston Villa on Boxing Day was perhaps the most impressive as it lifted the Magpies into the top five and back into contention for a Champions League finish. Eddie Howe’s side will take some stopping in their current form and a fourth successive win without conceding would mark their first set of four straight top-flight wins ‘to nil’ since April 2012.

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Premier League Fixtures:

Premier League Table