Manchester United faced Newcastle at Old Trafford on boxing day in pursuit of keeping their unbeaten streak intact. United had been in fine form prior to their stalemate at Villa Park last week, and were looking to reignite their good performances with a win against the Magpies.
Louis Van Gaal started with 5 at the back again with McNair, Jones, and Evans as the 3 centre backs, Valencia and Young played as wing-backs once again, with Carrick in midfield. Up front it was Mata, Rooney, Van Persie, and Falcao. Di Maria wasn't even on the bench as he had picked up an injury in training.
The Reds started the match brightly, dominating possession and going forward. Newcastle threatened only once on goal before Wayne Rooney started a United attack which ultimately saw him scoring on the end of it. He added another to his tally when Mata found him unmarked on the left and he cooly swept it away to give himself, and United, a second goal before half time. The second half started in much of the same manner in which the first ended and eventually, United were rewarded with another goal, this time with the skipper providing a pin-point through ball over the top for Van Persie, who had made a run behind the Newcastle defense, and met the ball with his head to bury it past Alnwick. Newcastle’s chances were few, but they got their breakthrough late on when Phil Jones tackled Colback, and substitute Cisse converted it to give Newcastle nothing more than a consolation goal. The final whistle blew to give United their record 50th boxing day win, a feat unmatched by any other Premier League team.
Where does this result leave United? With City and Chelsea both winning their Boxing Day games respectively, that leaves United still 7 points from their local rivals and 10 from table-toppers Chelsea. However, behind them, Southampton have regained a Champions League spot after their win against Crystal Palace, with West Ham falling to 5th after their loss to Chelsea. Meaning that regardless of Sunday’s result against Spurs, United will maintain their top 4 position. Whether or not they'll have an extra advantage over the two teams above them due to their lack of Champions League football though, and if they will be able to grasp that advantage and maybe try and push for the title, is still unknown. A top 4 finish will be a good result for United though, and anything more will be a sweet bonus.