Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Newcastle v Manchester United match preview

Following Sundays 1-0 loss to Bolton, Newcastle is a scant two points above the drop zone and far from in a comfortable setting. The Magpies head down a dark road to stave off being relegated as over the next four matches they face Chelsea, Arsenal and later today Manchester United.
With relegation threatened Stoke City and Middlesbrough both within reach, this is a troubling period and quite obviously Chris Hughton and company will need to be at their best to garner points where they can. Against Man Utd, the Magpies are facing the hottest team in the Football world and the Toon Army will be needed throughout St James' Park if they can come out with points.

Sir Alex Ferguson has Man Utd running like a finely tuned twelve cylinder and are well on the road to the quintuple. Unstoppable Man Utd is coming off winning the Carling Cup on Sunday but due to their breathtaking depth were able to rest many of their top-shelf talent including Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Edwin van der Sar.

Newcastle will be without the services of Kevin Nolan, who is in the sin-bin whilst Michael Owen, Danny Guthrie, Nicky Butt, Damien Duff and Habib Beye are all injured. Given the absences it is unlikely that Chris Hughton can make serious adjustments to the lineup although I expect Alan Smith to return and face his former teammates.