Premier League Matchday 19 Preview and Prediction
Liverpool continue to lead the way after fighting back to beat Leicester City 3-1 on Boxing Day. Chelsea were replaced in second by Arsenal, who beat Ipswich Town after the Blues suffered a late 2-1 defeat to Fulham.
Further down, Wolves escaped the bottom three with a festive victory over Manchester United, who have now lost four of their seven league games under Ruben Amorim.
Matchday 19 will see matches spread across Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. There are six games in a busy Sunday card, including under-pressure Manchester City travelling to Leicester City and Liverpool going to West Ham.
Three matches on Monday include Ipswich taking on Chelsea, then Brentford host Arsenal in a London derby on New Year’s Day to wrap up the action, after which attention will swiftly turn to another full weekend card.
Man Utd vs Newcastle Prediction
Manchester United have endured a December to forget and Ruben Amorim will be desperate to see improvements in their final game of 2024 when his side host Newcastle United on Monday.
United return to Old Trafford to finish another struggling year, and do so having suffered back-to-back defeats against Bournemouth and Wolves in the space of four days. The Red Devils failed to score in both of those losses and could suffer three consecutive defeats without scoring for the first time since May 2015.
Indeed, no team has lost more Premier League games since the start of December than Man Utd’s four, while they last lost more league games in a single calendar month back in September 1962 (5).
United were also beaten at home by Nottingham Forest earlier this month, though they’ve not lost three league games in a row at Old Trafford since February 1979. Having shipped three goals against both Forest and Bournemouth, they could also concede 3+ goals in three straight home games for the first time since October 1962.
The Wolves' loss left Amorim’s side 14th in the table, and closer to the relegation zone (8 points) than the top four (12 points) heading into the last matchday of 2024.
There is little good news on the availability front for Amorim either. Victor Lindelöf, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount are injured, while Bruno Fernandes’ red card against Wolves means he will be suspended, as will Manuel Ugarte for an accumulation of yellow cards.
Newcastle, meanwhile, are on a completely different trajectory to United, winning their last three Premier League games against Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Aston Villa by an aggregate score of 11-0. That run has helped Eddie Howe’s side to fifth in the table.
Newcastle last won four games in a row in March/April 2023 (5), while they last did so without conceding in April 2012. Anthony Gordon and Joelinton were on target in Thursday’s 3-0 win over Villa, while in-form Alexander Isak again found the net at St. James’ Park.
Man Utd vs Newcastle Head-to-Head
Man Utd have lost just one of their last 39 home league games against Newcastle (W28 D10), falling to a 1-0 defeat in December 2013 under David Moyes.
However, Newcastle have won two of their last three Premier League games against United (L1), as many as they had in their previous 16 against them (D4 L10).
United were 3-2 winners in this fixture last season, though, as Rasmus Højlund’s 84th-minute strike proved Lewis Hall’s late goal a mere consolation for Howe’s men at Old Trafford.
Man Utd vs Newcastle Prediction: OVER 2 @1.26
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Leicester City vs Manchester City: OVER 2.5 @1.36Tottenham Hotspur vs Wolverhampton Wanderers: OVER 2.5 @1.32
West Ham United vs Liverpool FC: AWAY WIN @1.40
Aston Villa vs Brighton & Hove Albion: OVER 1.5 @1.20
Ipswich Town vs Chelsea FC: AWAY WIN @1.40
Brentford FC vs Arsenal FC: UNDER 4.5 @1.22
