Newcastle United 1-0 Manchester United (2 Dec, 2023) Game Analysis

Anthony Gordon scored the winner as Newcastle held off a frenzied late surge from Manchester United in a 1-0 Premier League win over their main four rivals on a cold night at St James’ Park on Saturday.

Eddie Howe’s side overtook Manchester United and moved to fifth in the table with 26 points after 14 matches while Erik ten Hag’s side dropped to seventh with 24. The Magpies won three matches consecutive matches against Manchester in all competitions for the first time since January 1922.

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A negative for Newcastle, already depleted by injuries, was that goalkeeper Nick Pope had to be replaced by Martin Dúbravka in the 86th minute after injuring his shoulder. Pope carefully left the field with the help of medical staff.

Speaking after the match, Howe said he feared Pope might have dislocated his shoulder.

“It will be a big blow for us if he is ruled out for a while,” Howe said.

“It looked really harmless, but that’s usually the case and those are normally the more serious cases. You could see he was in distress and it looked like he had dislocated his shoulder in plunging.”

Gordon scored his sixth Premier League goal of the season in the 55th minute when Kieran Trippier played a ball across the penalty area after Manchester lost possession in midfield.

“I think it comes down to the team and how hard we work for each other,” Gordon told TNT. “I’m just trying to work hard and be someone the team can count on and I’m getting the rewards for that right now so I’m happy.”

Miguel Almirón narrowly missed getting to the ball before a wide-open Trippier swept it in from the far post for Gordon to score.

“It’s amazing to win today,” added Gordon. “It’s been a huge week for us, some good times, some tough times, but we got through it as a team.”

Newcastle, who drew 1-1 with Paris St Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday, dominated the match, peppering United goalkeeper Andre Onana with 22 shots to the visitors’ seven.

Manchester United pressed for a late equalizer with a host of chances, including a Harry Maguire header that was ruled out for offside.

Newcastle were a more cohesive and hungrier team as they ended their opponents’ four-game away winning streak. Manchester United have lost all five of their league matches against top-half teams this season.

Without Maguire and fellow defender Luke Shaw, the scoreline might have been more lopsided.

“We had a tough first half and we said at halftime that we were happy to be in the game,” Ten Hag said. “We made a good comeback in the last part of the match.

“I’ll talk to my team about it. We had a few chances. We thought we had scored a goal but it was offside. We could have scored.”

Newcastle had a fantastic chance just before half-time when Trippier took a magnificent free-kick that pinned goalkeeper Onana to the spot, but the ball flew off the crossbar and fell just outside the line. aim.

Reuters contributed to this report.