Newcastle United host Manchester United at St James’ Park on Wednesday night in MD29 of the Premier League.
Newcastle enter the match sitting in a precarious 13th position in the table after losing five of their last six league matches.
A horrid 3-2 home defeat to Everton at the weekend marked their third consecutive Premier League loss on Tyneside and brought even more heat to Eddie Howe’s seat entering the home stretch of the season.
Despite the Magpies’ recent progress in cup competitions, remaining
alive in one apiece continentally and domestically, Howe’s side has conceded eight goals across their last three home league games.
Howe may make changes to his lineup, even only because of the match congestion he’s about to face throughout March. Sven Botman could return in defence, while Jacob Ramsey faces a late decision after he was forced out of last weekend’s game ill. Tino Livramento, Lewis Miley and Bruno Guimaraes remain unavailable.
The gaffer will also have to come up with a solution for the dreadful offense showcased by NUFC, deciding between deploying Nick Woltemade in a central attacking role, dropping him to the midfield, using him as an enganche, or whatever the German is willing to do against the Red Devils.
Anthony Gordon’s scoring prowess and fantastic season—albeit more across Europe than playing EPL soccer—likely sees him leading the front once more, whether folks like it or not.
Manchester United arrive third in the table after earning 19 points from their last seven matches in a season-changing swing since club legend Michael Carrick took the reins of the squad.
The Red Devils beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at the weekend and are unbeaten in five away league fixtures, which is the total opposite of what we were accustomed to watching them do not so long ago.
That said, Man Utd have not won at St James’ Park since 2020 and have lost their last three league visits to Newcastle, which bodes well for Howe and the boys ahead of a(nother) must-win game.
Here are some of Howe’s Wisdom Nuggets, courtesy of NUFC.co.uk
On team-news…
“Jacob Ramsey was in yesterday, trained fine so a quick recovery from him. There’s an illness, potentially, in the squad because Nick Woltemade has gone down ill and we haven’t seen him for a couple of days but we will give him every chance for tomorrow.
“Tino Livramento is getting closer and closer. This game possibly comes too soon for him, we are desperate for him to become available.”
On Ramsey, who has three goal involvements in his last three Premier League outings…
“He’s getting better and better. When we first signed him, it was clear from the training we were doing how good, technically, he is.
“He very rarely wastes the ball, is really good in tight areas and he has good athleticism to add to the other side so I think he has a little bit of everything.
“It’s been great to see him score a couple of really important goals for us. Naturally, playing in midfield, I think you need to contribute in that area as well. That will do his confidence levels, those two goals, the world of good.
“I think he now feels fully at home and comfortable what he’s been asked to do so really positive signs for him.”
On finding consistency…
“We want to be consistent. We want to be our best in every game so it’s a frustration for all of us. We are trying to find solutions to every problem we have.”
On the next run of fixtures, playing in three different competitions in the upcoming three matches…
“We have to get the focus in the right areas. The focus has to be on what we can do better and we try to bring it back to what can help the players and our next performance.
“The players and my staff did a really good job of trying to bring it back to that. We did some good work on the training pitch, one of the rare opportunities we’ve had to do that, and today will be the same.
“It’s highlighting themes and mentality to our performance that will help us in our next run of games. They are all pivotal games. The games we have, we have to try and be positive and relish those games.
“We can’t play with any fear, need to go and attack the games and be as positive as we can be.”
On Man United, who claimed a 1-0 win against Newcastle in the reverse league fixture on Boxing Day…
“Our intention in every game is to get into them, be a proactive team rather than a reactive team. Attack them. They have tweaked things tactically; they have a really good atmosphere there.
“You can see an upturn in their general performance; they have some really good players. It is a chance for us to rediscover our best form at home.”
On the demands of the current schedule…
“The team we have is a very good team, but we need to defend better collectively, and that is on us as a whole team. We have been slightly unlucky with injuries, that is tough for any team to absorb, especially when you are playing every three days.
We have been put in a position where we haven’t had the luxury to rotate which has impacted our performances.”
Howay!
- Date: Wednesday, March 4th
- Kick-off: 20:15 BST / 15:15 EST
- Location: St. James’ Park, Newcastle (England)
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