Adam Dennehey WAFU manager
Manchester United will be looking to go stay level at the top with Manchester City by grabbing a win over Alan Pardew’s Newcastle United tonight in their first Premier League game of 2012.
It’s a credit to their manager Pardew that the only negative story to come out of St James’ Park this season was the club’s owner Mike Ashley’s decision to rename the ground to the Sports Direct Arena, not that anyone’s going to call it that anyway.
Certainly after the departures of Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Jose Enrique, some may say that Newcastle have overachieved so far but that would not be paying enough compliments to their current crop of players who have certainly gelled well this season.
In midfield the duo of Yohan Cabaye and Cheick Tiote have been outstanding, Jonas Guiterez has continued where he left off last season on the wing. Even former United misfit Gabriel Obertan has impressed whilst Demba Ba has been sensational up front.
Newcastle may not have beaten United in the Premier League since 2001 but the Magpies will go into the game confident of inflicting a second consecutive league defeat for United who will be looking to get over their ‘Blackburn’ hangover.
So what can we expect from tomorrow’s game. What will be the key battles on the pitch?
Rio Ferdinand v Demba Ba
Around this time last season Senegalese hitman Ba was nearing the end of a 3 and a half year spell with Bundesliga side Hoffenhiem where it was rumoured he went on strike to seal a January transfer deadline move to West Ham United.
Despite suffering relegation whilst at Upton Park last season, Ba impressed scoring 7 times and has started this season well scoring 14 league goals for Newcastle. Rio Ferdinand will have to be at his best to keep him quiet.
Michael Carrick v Yohan Cabaye
Despite impressing in his native France for Lille over the last couple of seasons, it was a surprise when talented midfielder Cabaye left the reigning French League and Cup Champions to sign for Newcastle in the summer instead of Champions League football
Michael Carrick is roaring back to his best-form and that’s been a major bonus for United who have been struggling with injuries throughout the season. As a Geordie he would love nothing more than to go back home on Tynside and impress.
Dimitar Berbatov v Fabricio Coloccini
Dimitar Berbatov has had to wait the best part of a third of the season to get his campaign fully underway but after scoring six goals in his last three games, the Bulgarian appears to be fully back in Sir Alex Ferguson’s plans.
Newcastle’s captain Fabirico Coloccini has been outstanding this season and he has improved vastly over the last 18 months to fully adapt into English football. He will need to handle Berbatov who seems reinvigorated as of late.
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In terms of a prediction for the game, as I stated earlier on in a on in a predictions article, I believe that United edge a hard-fought encounter 2-1. It won’t be an easy game and Newcastle do have the resources to scrap hard and get a point.
Pardew and his team due to the standards they have set this season will probably try and go for a win to keep their momentum going. That may prove to be their downfall and it would just be typical of Wayne Rooney to get back on-song by getting on the score-sheet.
By Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87
