Manchester United travel to St James’ Park on Sunday and will be aiming to strengthen their hold on a top four spot. And, after beating Newcastle at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final a month ago, Erik ten Hag will be confident his players can get the right result.
The Carabao Cup final back in February saw United lift their first trophy in six years. Now these two teams are competing for a place in the Champions League by finishing in the Premier League’s top four.
These two teams are separately by just three points, and a Newcastle win could see them jump to third place, all thanks to their superior goal difference.
However, a win for United would make us clear favourites to finish in the top four.
Here are three things we think you should be watching our for when United travel to St James’ Park on Sunday:
Newcastle winless in six league games against United
The Magpies are winless in their last six Premier League games against Manchester United. Two of those matches ended in a draw which is a result I’d happily take this weekend.
Bruno Fernandes milestone goal
Bruno Fernandes’ next league goal will be the 100th of his career. The Portugal international has played a total of six matches against Newcastle, scoring 3 and registering 1 assist.
All the best Bruno!
Time wasting
Erik ten Hag has again accused Newcastle of employing delaying tactics, so we’ll need our own players to go and dictate Sunday’s match. By taking control of the game we can cancel out any silly attempts to run down the clock.
What did the manager say? “A concern? We know they delay, yeah, and it’s something that the refereeing (body) doesn’t want,” The IndependentTen Hag said, as quoted by .
“They want to have tempo in the game. That is the aim of the Premier League, to have tempo in the game, so then they also have to be consistent to let the game go, and do and act what the policy is.”
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