Manchester United travel to Wembley Stadium for the final of the Carabao Cup where they will take on Newcastle United this afternoon. United and the Magpies have already met in the Premier League once this season, resulting in a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford back in October. They will meet at St James’ Park in April. United sit above Newcastle in the Premier League in third place, eight points clear although the Magpies have a game in hand and have dropped out of the top four.
United beat Aston Villa 4-2, Burnley 2-0, Charlton Athletic 3-0 and Nottingham Forest 3-0 and 2-0 (5-0 on aggregate) to reach the final of the Carabao Cup this season. Newcastle beat Tranmere Rovers 2-1, Crystal Palace 3-2 on penalties, Bournemouth 1-0, Leicester City 2-0 and Southampton 1-0 and 2-1 (3-1 on aggregate) to reach the Wembley final. United and the Magpies last met at Wembley in the 1998/99 FA Cup final with United winning 2-0 on the way to the treble.
This should be a good match for United, who will have played eight matches this month after the final with Newcastle playing half as many. United will be confident though after beating Barcelona 2-1 (4-3 on aggregate) in the UEFA Europa League play off round earning a round of 16 place where they will face Real Betis next month to continue to fight in all competitions. United are the only team to still be in four competitions and seeking to lift the first trophy of the season.
Manchester United
De Gea;
Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Shaw;
Casemiro, Fred;
Antony, Fernandes, Rashford;
Weghorst
Substitutes
Heaton; Lindelof, Maguire, Malacia, Wan-Bissaka; Sabitzer, McTominay; Sancho, Garnacho
Newcastle United
Karius;
Trippier, Schär, Botman, Burn;
Longstaff, Guimarães, Joelinton;
Almirón, Wilson, Saint-Maximan
Substitutes
Gillespie, Lascelles, Ritchie, Targett, Isak, Manquillo, Murphy, Willock, Anderson
United and Newcastle have met each other 174 times competitively since their first met back in 1895. United have won 90 times, drawn 41 and lost 43 times. United have not lost to Newcastle since that terrible 1-0 defeat back in October 2019 with Matty Longstaff scoring the only goal of the game. Six matches have been played since then with United winning the first four and drawing the other two. 16 goals were scored, five conceded with one clean sheet.
United have met Newcastle nine times in cup competition with two meeting in the FA Community Shield – winning both; four meetings in the FA Cup; one a final – winning all of them and three meeting in the League Cup – winning two and losing one. The last time United and Newcastle met in contention for a trophy was the FA Cup final in the 1998/99 season which United won 2-0 at the old Wembley with Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes scoring the goals.
Peter Beardsley, Keith Gillespie, Andy Cole, Ronny Johnsen, Nicky Butt, Guiseppe Rossi, Danny Simpson, Alan Smith, Louis Saha, Gabriel Obertan and Michael Owen have all played for both United and Newcastle. Cole is perhaps the most effective signing of the lot, although Owen and Smith both did well for United. Butt and Saha worked well for United though. Newcastle fans still seem happy that Alan Shearer chose them over United – he relegated them!
Written by John Walker
