Newcastle vs Man Utd Preview | United Injury Boost | Expected Line-Ups | Prediction

Manchester United will look to continue their fine recent form when they take on Newcastle United at St James’ Park this evening.

Caretaker United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has enjoyed an excellent start to life in the Old Trafford hot-seat since replacing Jose Mourinho with the Norwegian coach guiding the club to impressive wins over Cardiff, Huddersfield and Bournemouth.

If Man Utd claim victory over Newcastle tonight, Solskjaer will become only the second manager in United’s history to win his first four league matches, emulating the great Sir Matt Busby who achieved the feat in 1946.

However, the Manchester giants will look to claim a win at St James’ Park for the first time since 2015 and Newcastle will be desperate for a positive result to aid their hopes of avoiding relegation this season.

The Magpies head in to the game sitting 15th in the table but are just three points off the drop zone so Rafa Benitez will be keen to continue his good record against Man Utd with a much-needed win tonight.

Team news

United welcome Alexis Sanchez back in to the squad after he recovered from a hamstring injury that’s kept him out for over a month but the Chilean international may be eased back in to action from the bench.

Marcus Rashford is a doubt after picking up a minor groin problem against Bournemouth so Romelu Lukaku is expected to be recalled up front after scoring off the bench at the weekend.

Eric Bailly is unavailable as he’ll serve a ban following his red card against the Cherries so with Chris Smalling still out with a foot injury, Phil Jones is set for a recall in defence.

Newcastle are expected to be without defender Federico Fernandez after he limped out of the 1-1 draw at Watford on Saturday with a hip injury while Ciaran Clarke is still struggling with an ankle problem.

However, Jonjo Shelvey is pushing for a recall after making his return from injury off the bench at Vicarage Road but Florian Lejeune isn’t likely to be risked just yet despite returning to full training following a knee ligament injury.

Expected Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Newcastle 1-2 Man Utd: Newcastle won this fixture 1-0 last season but that was Man Utd’s only defeat in their last eight league meetings and the Magpies have a woeful home record this campaign having lost seven of their 10 games at St James’ Park. I do expect the hosts to raise their game against United this evening but the visitors should still have too much quality in the end.