Newcastle United v. Manchester United - Preview

By David Hobbs
August 26 2005

Manchester United travel to St James' Park to face Newcastle United in an attempt to continue their 100% start to the Premiership season.

Ruud van Nistelrooy has reiterated his intentions to stay at Old Trafford despite tempting links to La Liga giants Barcelona and Real

Newcastle United v. Manchester United
Barclays Premier League
St James' Park
28th August, 2005
4pm KO

Newcastle have had a tough time recently with fans starting to turn against boss Graeme Souness after only picking up just 1 point in their opening 3 games.

They've also had a very tough time finding the back of the net and have yet to open their goalscoring tally so far this season. Alan Shearer has been their only fit striker but look to rectify that situation by bolstering their attack.

Already, Newcastle signed Deportivo La Coruna striker Albert Luque for £9.5 million on Friday afternoon and could make his debut against the Red Devils.

However, their prime target Michael Owen is more likely to go to Liverpool if Rick Parry gets his way. Owen was close to a move to St James' Park on Thursday but talks broke down after Real Madrid accepted their offer.

Lone striker Alan Shearer has admitted confidence in the camp is low, stating: "Confidence is not very high at the moment. I'd be lying if I said anything else.

"The time to worry is not when you're missing chances but when you are not creating them and that's what is happening now. We have to look at our own performances and ask ourselves if we're doing enough.

United are on good form following wins against Everton and Aston Villa and have just arrived back in the UK following a 3-0 win against Debrecen in Hungary.

Team News:
Frontmen Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are both ruled out with injuries while John O'Shea and Mikael Silvestre are both available having not traveled to Hungary. Gary Neville picked up a groin straight, so Wes Brown moves to right-back. Wayne Rooney and Roy Keane were both omitted in midweek as Sir Alex Ferguson kept one eye on this fixture.

Titus Bramble, Craig Moore and Michael Chopra are all out for the Toon while Emre and Kieron Dyer are likely to return.

Newcastle-Online.com 's prediction:

Howaythetoon from Newcastle-Online.com told ManUtdWeb:

"I expect us to lineup: Given, Carr, Taylor, Boumsong, Babayaro, Milner, Jenas, Parker, Emre/Faye, Luque, Shearer. Our key player for me could
well be Luque if he starts or features.

"I can see a defeat, I can see a big defeat, but I'm putting my optimistic hat on once more and I'll go with a 2-2 draw. Van Nistelrooy and Rooney for Manchester United - Luque and Shearer for Newcastle United."

ManUtdWeb Prediction:
2-0 United.

David Hobbs - Webmaster
[david@manutdweb.com]