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23 min: Cunha takes matters into his own hands with a power dribble down the inside-left channel. He enters the box before driving low, hoping to catch out Ramsdale at his near post. The keeper parries out for a throw. And from that …
22 min: The corner’s worked long, and Schar tries to force the ball home at the far stick. Lammens is on point to claim. A few mutters from the Stretford End, with Manchester United in danger of being overrun. It’s been all Newcastle since Howe’s rejig.
21 min: Gordon sits down Dalot with some mesmerising wingplay on the left. He slips the ball infield for Hall, who glides past Heaven and wins another corner for Newcastle. Gordon will take. “I assume the Pope must have finally been able to persuade Amorim to try a back four,” quips Morgan Blake. “Nice of him to spare the time to call at Christmas.'”
19 min: Newcastle are now getting to most things first. Gordon curls in from the left. It’s a dangerous looking cross, with three Toon players at the back stick. Heaven does well to head clear amid the bustle. The visitors come again, Guimaraes winning a corner down the right. Manchester United deal with the set piece easily enough, but since Ramsdale went down for his injury, the resulting beneficial advice issued has led to Newcastle enjoying 70 percent of possession. The home fans are now in slightly less festive mood as a result.
17 min: On Sky, that man Gary Neville decodes Eddie Howe’s switcheroo, observing that Newcastle have gone man to man. “He’s effectively saying my players are better than yours. It could make for an interesting game.”
15 min: There’s a definite sense that both teams fancy themselves when going forward, but look a lot less sure-footed when defending. Don’t write off the chance of that Boxing Day goalfest just yet. Having said that, the current xG is 0.32 to 0.1, so make of all that what you will.
13 min: Woltemade wins a corner down the left off Dorgu. Gordon sends it curling towards the near post. Guimaraes flashes a header goalwards from close range. Lammens parries brilliantly, and Casemiro hacks clear. But the Toon come again, Murphy taking a shot from close range that balloons off a defender and over the bar. Nothing comes of the next corner, but this is a good response by Newcastle, who have suddenly turned up to the races. Clever/cynical Eddie! Clever/cynical Jason! Delete as applicable.
11 min: A low cross from the right. Sesko, his back to goal, 12 yards out, spins and whips a shot wide left. That was another decent half-chance for the hosts. Newcastle still trying to sort themselves out.
10 min: Ramsdale holds his hamstring and goes down. Is that it for the Newcastle keeper? Perhaps. Or, as Sky co-commentator Gary Neville suggests, he’s gone down so some tactical tweaks can be made as he’s checked out by the physio. Hall goes to the touchline, gets told this and that, and the message is quickly relayed to the rest of the team. Then Ramsdale gets back up. Clever, clever. Or cynical, cynical, depending on your point of view.
9 min: … and to be fair, their team have responded pretty well. Apart from that one corner, which admittedly gave up a big chance, Manchester United have achieved very little. “One of your readers being kept up all Christmas night by a neighbour’s pet sheep!” repeats a delighted Justin Kavanagh. “That’s something I never expected to read on an MBM and certainly gives a whole new meaning to baaaaaaa humbug!”
7 min: On the touchline, Eddie Howe and his assistant Jason Tindall do quite a bit of talking, pointing and note-taking. Obviously trying to make sense of Manchester United’s new shape, and how to respond to it.
5 min: Manchester United’s lively start has ensured – perhaps along with a couple of pints or a few nippy sweeties – a fine atmosphere at Old Trafford. The home fans spark up a chorus of their Twelve Days of Cantona song. Meanwhile here’s more of that festive cheer, courtesy of John Hubbard: “I’m tucked up in bed feeling poorly, so hoping for an Old Trafford fairy tale to cheer me up. No doubt Sesko will misfire for 60 minutes and then Zirkzee for the next 30 minutes, so if the Good Fairy would wave their magic wand and get one of the Academy kids on to score the winning goal, that would be just the ticket. But maybe Sesko and Zirkzee will get long overdue hattricks and The Reds will romp through the rest of the season and into Big Cup.”
3 min: A speculative ball down the Manchester United left. Shaw hassles Miley into the concession of the evening’s first corner. Mount swings it in. Casemiro, no slouch in front of goal when a cross comes in, meets the ball on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. He’s unchallenged, and it’s a great chance, but he slaps the effort miles over the bar and deep into the stand. Promising start for the hosts, though, whose change of tack may have put Newcastle on the back foot.
2 min: A bit of a surprise here: it looks as though Manchester United are lining up with a defence of Dalot, Martinez, Heaven and Shaw. Dorgu wide right in the midfield. An Amorim team with a back four? It’s a Christmas miracle!
Amorim and Howe embrace on the touchline, all smiles … then Newcastle get the ball rolling. They’re kicking towards the Stretford End in this first half.
The teams are out! It’s a heartwarming festive scene, because whenever these storied old clubs meet, both get to keep on their famous kits. Manchester United in red and black, Newcastle United in black and white. A classic look as everyone trots out to the strains of This Is The One. A poignant chime to the track tonight, Manchester having said farewell to one of United’s biggest fans earlier this week. Go well, Mani.
Our pre-match postbag is positively brimming with festive cheer. “A goal-glut for the ages, eh? Why do I feel like I’m in for the biggest Christmas let-down since I asked my da for the Barcelona Subbuteo team and opened up the box under the tree to find… Burnley? Yours, Scrooge and the Grinch” – Justin Kavanagh
“As discussed on the Football Weekly podcast, Eddie Howe is given an easy time by critics. He has reached his ceiling. Newcastle cannot improve any more under his management” – Jeff Sax
“For my entire life as a Newcastle fan, it has been virtually nothing but misery at Old Trafford, a familiar sensation of shooting pains at the mere thought of the Man U (a) fixture. But looking at the two benches tonight, its clear that we have the depth and resources to win this match - maybe our expectations should be set higher? Anyway, I’m operating on practically zero sleep (one of the neighbours has a pet sheep that has been keeping me up at night) and I’m well on the way to type 2 diabetes after my dietary efforts over the festive period, so even a battling draw tonight would be enough to lift my spirits” – Chris Paraskevas
Ruben Amorim speaks to Sky. “We are prepared … we know we have some players out but there are no excuses … we need to perform well … we are performing so much better … in the last games, for some reason, some details, we are not winning the games … we will try to win this one … everyone needs to step up because Bruno is not here … we need to be physical … [Newcastle] need to feel uncomfortable … we need to be smart … we cannot lose the ball in our half … we know what they want, so we will try to do the opposite … but we will also play with our strengths … [the five academy kids on the Manchester United bench] are ready to help the team … we have a short squad to give the kids an opportunity when a lot of things happen at the same time … they are really proud to be here and that is a good feeling I have with these kids … if we need them they will be on the pitch … since the start of the season my feeling is we can win any game … it is a little bit different compared to last season … even without a lot of good players, we can win this game … I have that feeling.”
Some other Boxing Day reading for you, seeing we’re whiling away the time until kick-off. Afcon! Championship! Nags! You want it all, and we can’t let you down. Not at Christmas. Enjoy, enjoy.
Eddie Howe talks to Sky Sports. “There’s no getting way from the fact that [the season has been challenging] … we need to do better … there’s only one way to respond … try to win as many games as we can … this is a tough assignment today but one we can rise to … certainly a big challenge … we did OK against [Manchester United] last year but they have improved … grown … we’ve done the same in recent weeks … our recent form, bar the Sunderland game, has been pretty good … we’re in a decent moment without winning the number of games we need to, to climb the table … that’s why games like this are so important to us … we are playing a team in and around us … it would mean a lot to get three points today … we’ve been in some really good positions in games … overall it is positive … we have to do certain things to swing those good performances into wins … we can’t change the past … we can only affect the future.”
He also reports that Nick Pope isn’t quite up to full match fitness yet.
Some of that aforementioned spirit of Boxing Day ‘63 is most certainly in the air. Wrexham have just beaten Sheffield United 5-3 at the Racecourse Ground. They were 3-1 down after 24 minutes. Such a shame the two teams aren’t reconvening at Bramall Lane on Sunday.
(The Blades drew 3-3 at Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day 1963, then lost 2-1 to them at home 48 hours later, seeing you’re not asking.)
The rewards on offer tonight. Seventh-placed Manchester United will leapfrog their old north-west pals Liverpool into fifth place with a win. Newcastle start the game in the bottom half of the table, but should they win by two goals this evening, they’ll nip in ahead of Manchester United and into seventh. Any victory would take Newcastle above Crystal Palace and into eighth.
Manchester United make two changes to their starting XI following the 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa. Bruno Fernandes is injured, so his captain’s armband is taken by Lisandro Martínez, making his first start since his return from injury. Casemiro takes Fernandes’s place in midfield, returning as he is from a one-match suspension. Leny Yoro drops to the bench.
Newcastle United name the same starting XI that began the 2-2 home draw with Chelsea. Joelinton, who scored here in the Toon’s 2-0 win almost a year ago to the day, is on the bench.
The teams
Manchester United: Lammens, Martinez, Heaven, Shaw, Dalot, Casemiro, Ugarte, Dorgu, Cunha, Mount, Sesko.
Subs: Bayindir, Zirkzee, Malacia, Yoro, Fredricson, Jack Fletcher, Lacey, Mantato, Tyler Fletcher.
Newcastle United: Ramsdale, Miley, Thiaw, Schar, Hall, Tonali, Guimaraes, Ramsey, Jacob Murphy, Woltemade, Gordon.
Subs: Pope, Joelinton, Wissa, Barnes, Willock, Alex Murphy, Shahar, Neave, Alabi.
Referee: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Stuart Attwell
Preamble
The full Boxing Day fixture list for England’s top flight reads as follows:
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Manchester United v Newcastle United
And that’s it. So much for tradition. And yet! Never mind! Because this game could feasibly end up with a scoreline that would slot seamlessly into that 1963 results service, an ersatz pastiche of English football’s most famous festive feelgood farrago. You see, Newcastle haven’t had a clean sheet in the Premier League since the start of October, a run stretching back ten games; Manchester United’s last home fixture ended 4-4, for goodness sake. Newcastle have won five of the last six meetings between these sides, to the aggregate score of 14-4; Manchester United have won all previous Boxing Day meetings between the clubs in the Premier League era to the cumulative tune of 11-5. Fold in the unpredictable manner in which both teams are currently going about their business, and this could be a goal-glut for the ages†. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
†: Apologies if we’ve tempted fate, and the Football Gods, into the delivery of a mind-numbing goalless draw. But what sort of life is this if you can’t whip yourself up into an anticipatory frenzy at Christmas?
