Next Wednesday, 4th of March 2015, Louis Van Gaal’s inconsistent Manchester United will travel to St. James’ Park to measure forces with Newcastle for round 28 of the English Premier League, on a match that the Red Devils need to win in order to keep nurturing their hopes of reaching their neighbours and rivals of Manchester City on the second place of the table.

Last Saturday, the Red Devils returned to Old Trafford after their sour defeat at Wales at the expenses of Swansea, who have proven to be United’s most cruel and vile executioner so far this season. Manchester United managed to bounce back from their defeat against the Swans and granted an important 2-0 win over a very frail opponent, Sunderland. Regardless of the Black Cats’ recent poor form, United’s win was far from easy with both goals just taking place on the second-half of the match. The usual suspect, Wayne Rooney, netted in the Red Devils goals, the first one from the penalty spot and the second after an incomplete save from Sunderland’s goalie, Costel Pantilimon, who by the way put up an excellent performance.

United’s overall performance was once again somewhat bland and it was only after Wes Brown’s red card and subsequent penalty goal from Wayne Rooney, that things started to change and the Red Devils started to control the match.

The upcoming clash against Newcastle, will certainly not be easy and United need to put up a solid performance if they want to leave St. James’ Park with the three points in their bags. For that particular clash, Louis Van Gaal is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the contribution of Van Persie and Michael Carrick, who are still recovering from their respective injuries.

As for Newcastle, they have been fairly inconsistent so far this season and things have not improved much since Alan Pardew’s departure to Crystal Palace. The Magpies have only won twice in this new year so far and were eliminated from the FA Cup at the hands of Leicester.

Last weekend, Newcastle have, nevertheless, returned to wins after beating a hopeless Aston Villa 1-0 at St. James’ Park.

Despite Newcastle’s important home win against the Villans last weekend, they can’t be seen as favourites for the upcoming clash against Manchester United, that will certainly try to replicate last season’s performance, when they defeated the Magpies by 4-0 at St. James’ Park.

Newcastle

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

Recent Form - WLDDW

Manchester United

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - WLWWD

Possible Line-ups

Newcastle (4-4-2) – Krul - Janmaat - Coloccini - Williamson - Haidara - Abeid - Obertan - Ameobi - Sissoko - Perez - Cisse

Manchester United (4-3-1-2) – De Gea - Jones - Rojo - Valencia - Evans - Blind - Di Maria - Herrera - Young - Rooney - Falcao

Prediction

Newcastle 1 Manchester United 2