Newcastle United v Manchester United: betting preview, free tip & where to watch

Football tips, best bets and predictions for Newcastle United v Manchester United in the Premier League.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Premier League & Main Event, 4.30pm Sunday

Best bet

Manchester United to win & under 2.5 goals
1pt 3-1 Paddy Power

Team news

Newcastle United
Jonjo Shelvey and Dwight Gayle have made surprise returns to training. Isaac Hayden is suspended, while Florian Lejeune and Matt are Ritchie injured.

Manchester United
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer does not expect Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard or Luke Shaw to recover from injury. Aaron Wan-Bissaka is doubtful, while Phil Jones and Eric Bailly are sidelined.

Match preview

How low can you go?

Manchester United head to Newcastle in the wrong half of the Premier League table and have probably already hit their version of rock-bottom, but for their opponents the tale of woe could extend further.

Nineteenth and out of their depth in a 5-0 thrashing at Leicester last week, of the two Uniteds it is Newcastle who come into this grim-looking contest in the worse shape.

Don't expect a classic. There are not enough good players on show and the two managers must be wondering if they are up to their tasks, but the men from Manchester could still come out on top in what seems certain to be a nervous 90 minutes.

Few punters will be eager beavers when it comes to hunting down the Tyneside visitors at odds-on given Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side have failed to win any of their last ten away matches since beating Paris St-Germain in the Champions League.

Ironically, that was the victory which virtually sealed Solskjaer's promotion from interim to permanent manager and in a sliding doors style moment perhaps it would have been better for all concerned if United had not produced that miracle comeback in Paris.

They were well beaten by Barcelona in the next round anyway and you have to go back 30 years since United winless run on the road reached 11 matches, while Thursday's 0-0 draw at AZ Alkmaar was as dire as it gets. The Red Devils failed to muster a shot on target.

However, Marcus Rashford was rested from the start in the Europa League and offers the best pathway to goal, while Dan James has already created some spectacular moments since arriving from Swansea.

United have scored just seven goals in their last nine matches, failing to notch more than once in any of those, and if they are to oblige as favourites, a narrow success at superior odds makes more sense.

The one crumb of comfort for Solskjaer is a defence which has performed well, both on the actual numbers with seven Premier League goals conceded, and on expected goal ratings.

United have had the best defence in the league according to that metric, so breaching David de Gea's goal won't come easy for Newcastle. Although in fairness, nothing comes easy to Newcastle.

A total of five goals have been scored in their four home matches this season and this could play out in a similar way to Arsenal's 1-0 grind on the opening weekend.

That was a terrible contest, settled by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's star quality, and there's just about enough in the visiting ranks to expect them to eke out maximum points.