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Team news
Newcastle were unchanged from winning at Nottingham Forest last month. Joelintonwho returned from suspension, is among the substitutes.
United made three changes from their dramatic FA Cup win over Fulham two weeks ago. Diogo DalotAnd Raphael Varane And Anthony Come on Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Harry Maguire and Jadon Sancho. Anthony Martial was the least spotted of the substitutes.
Newcastle United (4-1-2-3) Pope; Trippier, Char; Putman, Byrne; Guimarães. Longstaff, Willock. Murphy, Isaacs, Saint-Maximin.
Subs: Dubravka, Lascelles, Targett, Manquillo, Ritchie, Anderson, Joelinton, Gordon, Wilson.
Manchester United (possible 4-1-2-3) De Gea. Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Shaw; McTominay. Fernandez Sabitzer Anthony, Wighurst, Rashford.
Substitutes: Bishop, Butland, Lindelof, Maguire, Malacia, Fred, Pellestri, Martial, Sancho.
Preamble
Hello, and welcome to the live coverage of the Newcastle United vs Manchester United match at St James’ Park. It’s been a long time since these clubs were rivals. short enmity It culminated in Tunnel at Elland Road in 1996 It slowly faded after that. Roy Keane and Alan Shearer did their best to reignite it, but it was largely over when, twenty years ago next week, Manchester United won 6-2 at St James’ Park to end Newcastle’s title challenge. Since then, with the exception of a one-sided FA Cup semi-final in 2005 and perhaps a couple of league matches, teams have lived in different worlds.
Newcastle is no longer a small club in the North East; They really weren’t, but that’s another story. This season they are peers of Manchester United, fighting for the same titles and the same position in the Champions League. Both aspire to something bigger in the medium term, and if United are acquired by Qatar, this could develop into the biggest rivalry in the Premier League.
It’s still early for that, so let’s go back to April 2023. Today’s match, although not as important as the Carabao Cup final in February, is still big. Both teams are competing with Tottenham for the two remaining spots in the Champions League. And Newcastle, who start in fifth place, will overtake Tottenham and United if they win this afternoon.
The last time Newcastle were in the top three was in April and May, yes, 20 years ago – by the time we were all moving up to Junior Senior, Avril Lavigne didn’t know who you were and the two of them were sitting at the top table of English football.
Starting 4.30pm.
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