Manchester United kick off 2019 with a trip to Newcastle United looking to make it four wins from four under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
A 1-0 win at Huddersfield Town in mid-December is the only victory the Magpies have experienced in their last seven Premier League outings and start this evening only three points above the drop zone.
Ole is set to welcome back Alexis Sanchez for this evening’s game at St James’ Park, whilst Romelu Lukaku could make his first start under the Norwegian.
As for Newcastle, he’s the defensive team I can see Rafa Benitez fielding against us:
Goalkeeper: Martin Dubravka
The Slovakian made his Premier League debut for Newcastle against us last February and has remained their number one since.
Defence: DeAndre Yedlin, Fabian Schar, Jamaal Lascelles, Paul Dummett, Matt Ritchie
Rafa Benitez has a couple of injuries at centre-back so Paul Dummett could move in field to make up the middle three of a back five. Fabian Schaar and Jamaal Lascelles are almost certain to start with Florian Lejeune, Federico Fernandez and Ciaran Clark all set to miss out. The Magpies have a pacey right-back in DeAndre Yedlin whilst midfielder Matt Ritchie can be expected to fill in at left-back again.
Midfield: Ayoze Perez, Jonjo Shelvey, Mohamed Diame, Kenedy
Jonjo Shelvey is available again to put some dirty challenges in from the middle of the park, alongside Mohamed Diame. Kenedy was rested for their draw at Watford on Saturday presumably with this game in mind. The Brazilian and Ayoze Perez will be looking to cause us problems on the counter-attack.
Striker: Salomon Rondon
Salomon Rondon has looked decent in recent weeks for Newcastle and will be an aerial threat against us, particularly how poorly we looked at defending set pieces versus Bournemouth on Sunday. The Venezuelan can do a decent job in holding the ball up too.
Here’s the Newcastle team on paper:
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