Manchester United will look to continue their winning start to Premier League campaign against Newcastle at Old Trafford. After winning their Champions League play-off match, United was dealt a severe blow when reported target Pedro signed for Chelsea on Thursday. On the other hand Newcastle hasn’t had the best start to the season, after collecting only a single point from first two matches manager Steve McClaren will be hoping for a shock victory against United to kick-start their campaign.
McClaren will be boosted by the arrival of new summer signing Florian Thauvin, who completed his move from Marseille to St James’ Park on Wednesday and became the fifth summer signing for Newcastle. The highlight of United’s victory over Club Brugge was the excellent display by Memphis Depay, who scored two excellent goals. One man who will be looking to get on the score sheet this weekend will be the club captain Wayne Rooney, who has now gone 9 matches without finding the back of the net and has had a sluggish start to his season.
After flirting with relegation last season, Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has been quick to get out a checkbook that for too long had been gathering dust. Newcastle has a lot to prove this season, but the road ahead isn’t an easy one, After visiting Old Trafford on Saturday, Newcastle’s next five Premier League outings will include matches with the other members of last season’s top four — Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.
Both teams have a player suspended for this match, with Marouane Fellaini serving the final game in a three-match and for Newcastle Daryl Janmaat who was sent off last week in the defeat against Swansea. United will be without Phil Jones, who is still nursing an injury while doubts remain over the availability of Michael Carrick who limped off during the match against Brugge. With David De Gea still being linked to Real Madrid, LVG is expected to continue with Sergio Romero in goal, who has already kept two consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League.
Van Gaal will be familiar with McClaren’s management style, having faced the former England manager’s FC Twente side while in charge of AZ Alkmaar in the Eredivisie during the 2008-09 season.
Predicted Manchester United XI: Romero, Darmian, Smalling, Blind, Shaw, Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, Mata, Januzaj, Depay and Rooney
Predicted Newcastle United XI: Krul, Williamson, Mbemba, Coloccini, Haidara, Anita, Colback, Taylor, Wijnaldum, Thauvin and Cisse
Predicted Scoreline: Manchester United versus Newcastle United: 3-1
Key stats:
Manchester United has won five of their last six Premier League clashes with Newcastle (L1) and have lost just two of their last 25 top-tier encounters with the Magpies (W18 D5).
Newcastle has only ever enjoyed one Premier League victory at Old Trafford in their 21 visits, with that 1-0 wins coming in December 2013 (D7 L13).
The Red Devils have won 15 of their last 19 Premier League games at Old Trafford