Manchester United head to the Sports Direct Arena at St. James Park tomorrow in hopes of leapfrogging Arsenal and closing the gap on local rivals Manchester City. Also, United look to complete another double over the Tyne side following a rather comfortable 3-1 victory on Boxing Day at Old Trafford. A Wayne Rooney brace and another from Robin van Persie sealed all three points for the hosts on that day, but they could not secure a clean sheet following Phil Jones' sour trip on Jack Colback which allowed substitute Papiss Demba Cisse to slot home from the spot past David de Gea. 

Newcastle United are coming off the back of a 1-0 home victory over Tim Sherwood's Aston Villa side. Papiss Cisse scored the game's only goal from eight yards out, following a Daryl Janmaat cross before the half-time interval. Their win last week was only their second in five games with two draws, including one against former manager Alan Pardew of Crystal Palace, and a 5-0 drubbing away at defending champions Manchester City in between.

Team News:

Newcastle - 

Jak Alnwick (unlikely), Paul Dummett (knee), Steven Taylor (calf) and Jack Colback (suspension) are all unavailable for the game as stated, whilst Remy Cabella and Cheick Tiote are both sidelined due to respective injuries. 

Manchester United - 

Paddy McNair, Phil Jones (doubt) and Michael Carrick are all unlikely to feature in the team for the game, whilst Luke Shaw and Robin van Persie (ankle) are both also set to miss the trip to Tyneside. 

STATS:

Newcastle have failed to score in three of their last four home league meetings with United.

Rooney has scored 12 Premier League goals against the Magpies; a joint-high against any opponent for the United and England captain alongside Aston Villa.

The hosts have scored the highest percentage of second-half goals in the league this season (69%)

United have only lost once away from home in their last eight games, against Swansea City. (W3, D4, L1).

Prediction: United, with all of their quality, should be able to record another away victory against John Carver's side, who are without a few key players namely Tiote and Cabella. Louis van Gaal has experimented with multiple different formations thus far in this campaign, meaning that his line-up is unpredictable but despite that, the Dutchman will know that nothing but a win will do, as they are attempting to keep pace with the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City to secure a coveted UEFA Champions League spot, in which they failed to reach last season under David Moyes.