Manchester United and Newcastle United are playing live on the Boxing Day English Premier League schedule and the game from Old Trafford has Man Utd coming in playing well and the game is on TV from the NBC Sports Network and online from the NBCSN streaming website as Wayne Rooney gets things going starting at 10 am ET.
Manchester United may have defender Chris Smalling in the lineup after dealing with an injury, but Luke Shaw will be out for the holiday matchup. Man U has been playing very well over the past month and now Louis Van Gaal has his team in third place on the English Premier League table heading out of Christmas Day. Man United usually plays well on Boxing Day and they are expecting to do that once again, as they have won 10 games in a row on this day.
The team has lost just one time over the last 22 years in the Premier League on Boxing Day and that makes the team the favorite here. The team comes in after a draw against Aston Villa and they had won six games in a row and they are starting to get into better form as the season moves along. The team played well enough to win last week and did not get it done and those points left on the pitch could come back on the team down the line.
Newcastle is back at Old Trafford after winning a huge game last year there, the first time in over 40 years that the team did that. It's unlikely they will do it again so soon after doing that, but the win gave the Magpies major confidence and now they are back. Newcastle has played road matchups in all but two of the past 13 on Boxing Day and that makes this trip to Old Trafford even tougher. Man United hasn't lost back to back games at home against Newcastle in over 70 years and that means it's likely not happening.
Manchester United comes in playing well over the last few weeks and they have lost just one of the last 12 matches in league play. The team has lost just once in the last 20 Boxing Day matches and they have won 17 of them and while they have used more players than any other team this season, they remain in third behind Man City and Chelsea. Man United has Tottenham coming up and then they have Stoke City before an FA Cup matchup and they also have Southampton and West Ham down the line.
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