Newcastle United, trying to stay away from the relegation zone, will welcome the second team on the points table, Manchester United. The match will be played at Newcastle's home ground, St. James Park on February 11.

Both teams will come face-to-face for the second time this season. The first game was won by Man Utd at their home ground, Old Trafford, by 4-1. Newcastle and Man Utd manager, Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho have faced each other many times during their manager career.

What to expect

The crowd will be with the underdogs, Newcastle as they are playing on their home turf. They are just a point away from the relegation zone and defeat against Man United will place them in the bottom three.

Benitez will certainly try to daze Jose and Co., but Man United has also been in good form lately. Manchester Utd has only lost once in their last five outings while Newcastle has only won once in their last five outings.

Rafa Benitez did well last season to take Newcastle back in the Premier League from the Championship League. However, the team is apparently struggling in the Premier League this season as they have only won six games and lost 13 so far.

Jose insisted in his recent interview that he’s thrown the title in the towel as the cream of the crop and league leaders, Manchester City, is 13 points clear already.

Champions League qualifying round is also at a stone’s throw and will be played late this month. Jose can drop some prominent players for this game.

Newcastle will indeed not like to be putty in Manchester United’s hands and like to give a good fight and take at least a point. Man Utd’s neophyte, Alexis Sanchez, has hit the ground running at Old Trafford.

The man of parts displayed an impressive performance in his last game against Huddersfield Town and scored a goal.

Lineup Predictions

Manchester United’s playing-11 could possibly appear with few changes as they have Sevilla to play against in the Champions League later this month. According to some recent news from different sports news outlets like Goal, The Sun.

and Metro, Alexis Sanchez has been sentenced 16-month prison due to tax evasion when he was in Barcelona during 2012-13.

Sanchez could be sidelined for the game to let him solve his legal issues. Matic could also be dropped as he’s played most of the United games this season and some rest will refill his energy for the Champions League.

Benitez is also likely to make few changes as his team's attack line is failing to score goals. They played a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace in their last game and have conceded more goals this season than scored.

Man Utd: De Gea, Valencia, Smalling, Rojo, Shaw, Pogba, Matic, Mata, Lingard, Martial, Lukaku

Newcastle: Darlow, Yadlin, Clark, Lascelles, Dummett, Kennedy, Shelvy, Diame, Ritchie, Perez, Gayle

Where to watch

Supersport, Kwesé Sports, Canal, beIN Sports, and Sports 1 will be broadcasting the match on the African continent. Star Sports, beIN sports, LeSports, and NHK will be broadcasting the match in Asia. In the US and Canada, the match can be watched on Hotstar.
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