Newcastle v Manchester
Utd - St James' Park
Ch 24 - 1:15 am - (Live)
Newcastle may be forced to play Nicky Butt in the centre of defence
after the injury to Peter Ramage at Everton.
Ramage's injury has left Steven Taylor as Newcastle's only fit
centre-half, with Titus Bramble and Craig Moore out.
Paul Scholes and Nemanja Vidic return from suspension as Manchester
United look to complete a 100% return over the festive period
against Newcastle.
Rio Ferdinand (shin) is a doubt, but Gary Neville is back, after
United denied claims he needs calf surgery.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
had been making giant strides up the table with five wins in six
Premiership matches, until consecutive away defeats to Bolton on
Boxing Day and Everton on Saturday. Now Glenn Roeder's side just
must pick themselves up to face a red hot Manchester United outfit
in the early evening game, with the leaders hunting a 14th win in
16 top flight fixtures since the beginning of October.
The Magpies are challenging for a fifth successive home Premiership
victory, having taken 12 points out of 12 points off Portsmouth,
Reading, Watford and Spurs in successive League outings at St
James' Park since 26 November.
Obafemi MARTINS is Newcastle's top scorer with nine goals - seven
of which were in the Premiership.
MANCHESTER UNITED
have not spent such a lengthy period at the top of the Premiership
table since the 2000-01 season, and now have opportunity to really
turn the screw on chasing Chelsea. Victory would put them nine
points clear of the champions, who don't visit Aston Villa until
Tuesday night. Sir Alex Ferguson's side have claimed maximum points
and scored three goals in each of the festive fixtures - away to
Villa, and home to Wigan and Reading. Ronaldo has been pivotal in
those three fixtures, scoring two goals in each.
The Red Devils have won eight of their 10 top flight games on the
road so far. They've only dropped points in this season's
Premiership travels to Reading and West Ham.
Louis SAHA and Cristiano RONALDO are United's joint top scorers
with 12 goals each.
RONALDO is the club's top marksmen in the Premiership, as all 12 of
his goals have been netted in the League.
Newcastle : Given, Srnicek, Krul, Solano, Edgar,
Taylor, Huntington, Parker, Butt, Emre, Milner, Pattison, Troisi,
Gate, Martins, Dyer, Sibierski, Luque, Carroll.
Man Utd : Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Neville, Brown,
Ferdinand, Vidic, Silvestre, Evra, Heinze, Ronaldo, Park, Fletcher,
Carrick, Scholes, O'Shea, Giggs, Richardson, Rooney, Solskjaer,
Saha.
REFEREE
Rob Styles (Waterlooville, Hampshire)
LAST SEASON'S CORRESPONDING GAME
Newcastle United 0-2 Manchester United
28 August 2005 - Ref: Howard Webb
Man United scorers: Rooney 66, van Nistelrooy 90
THIS SEASON'S REVERSE FIXTURE
Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle United
1 October 2006 - Ref: Mike Dean
Man United scorers: Solskjaer 41, 49
HEAD TO HEAD TOTALS
at Newcastle only
League: Newcastle 29 wins, Man Utd 24, Draws 15
Prem: Newcastle 3 wins, Man Utd 7, Draws 3
