United and Newcastle headlines Premier League’s Boxing Day clash

Manchester United welcomes Newcastle United to Old Trafford for the Premier League’s only Boxing Day contest on Friday night.

United fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa last time out courtesy of Morgan Rogers’ double and will be looking to return to winning ways.

Newcastle surrendered a two-goal advantage to Chelsea, as the Blues fought back to draw 2-2 in their last outing.

Match preview

Manchester United have lost four of their last five Premier League games against Newcastle (W1), as many as they had in their previous 38 against the Magpies (W25 D9).

Newcastle did the league double over Manchester United last season, including a 2-0 win in this exact fixture. They’ve not won consecutive visits to Old Trafford since March 1935, while they last won three in a row against the Red Devils in January 1922.

The Red Devils have won all three of their Premier League Boxing Day games against Newcastle, with all three coming under different managers.

This is the first Boxing Day in Premier League history to see as few as one game being played. It’s between the team with the most Boxing Day wins in the competition (Man Utd, 22) and the team with the joint-most Boxing Day defeats (Newcastle, 16).

United have lost their last three Premier League matches played between Christmas and New Year, as many as they lost in their previous 43 games between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve (W32 D8 L3).

The Magpies have won their last two away league matches played between Christmas and New Year, beating Leicester on Boxing Day 2022 and Man Utd on 30 December last year.

Ruben Amorim’s side have lost 14 Premier League games for the third consecutive calendar year, but the Red Devils haven’t suffered more league defeats in a year since 1989 under Alex Ferguson (18).

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has won seven of his 13 Boxing Day league games as a manager (D3 L3).

Manchester United have failed to win any of their seven Premier League games since the 2022/23 campaign without Bruno Fernandes in the starting lineup, losing six of those (D1). The Red Devils have netted just four goals across those matches.

Team news

Manchester United

Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire are on the sidelines for the host.

Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui are away at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Newcastle United

Dan Burn, Tino Livramento, Kieran Trippier, Emil Krafth, Sven Botman, William Osula and Jamaal Lascelles are on the injury list of the Magpies.

Predicted line-ups

Manchester United: Senne Lammens, Leny Yoro, Ayden Heaven, Luke Shaw, Diogo Dalot, Manuel Ugarte, Casemiro, Patrick Dorgu, Mason Mount, Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Sesko.

Newcastle United: Aaron Ramsdale, Lewis Miley, Malick Thiaw, Fabian Schär, Lewis Hall, Bruno Guimarães, Sandro Tonali, Jacob Ramsey, Jacob Murphy, Anthony Gordon, Nick Woltemade.