Newcastle United and Manchester United come into Saturday night's Premier League clash after picking up draws in the Champions League.
While Newcastle battled hard and should have taken home the win but for an extraordinary amount of second-half stoppage time coupled with a baffling penalty decision, Manchester United threw away their chance of three points after holding a comfortable 3-1 lead and eventually coming out at 3-3 against Galatasaray.
Therefore if either side is well placed for Saturday's game it's Newcastle. They held their own against a determined Paris Saint-Germain side, keeping them shut out for 96 minutes before the referee stepped in to hand them a draw.
Paul Merson has made his prediction for Sportskeeda for this Saturday night clash which is one of the irritating 8pm kick-offs.
The former Arsenal and England striker gave one paragraph to Newcastle before going on a huge rant about Manchester United and how rubbish they were on Wednesday. We'll take a paragraph of praise over a rant any day.
"Both of these sides have to be devastated after their midweek games. Newcastle must have felt like they had qualified before PSG pulled one back right before the final whistle. They were outstanding but an absolute disgrace of a VAR decision spoiled their party."
Merson finished off his Manchester United rant by bringing it back to Saturday's game before giving his score prediction.
"Manchester United are more ruthless than Chelsea but the Magpies were excellent last weekend and I’d be shocked if they don’t win this week.
"Predicted scoreline: Newcastle United 3-1 Manchester United"
Thanks, Merse, we'll take that all day. An early Christmas present.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
12 | 16 | 31 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
12 | 5 | 23 |
3 |
Chelsea
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
4 |
Arsenal
|
12 | 9 | 22 |
5 |
Brighton
|
12 | 5 | 22 |
6 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
12 | 14 | 19 |
7 |
Nottingham Forest
|
12 | 2 | 19 |
8 |
Aston Villa
|
12 | 0 | 19 |
9 |
Fulham
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
10 |
Newcastle United
|
12 | 0 | 18 |
11 |
Brentford
|
12 | 0 | 17 |
12 |
Manchester United
|
12 | 0 | 16 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
12 | -1 | 15 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
12 | -4 | 15 |
15 |
Everton
|
12 | -7 | 11 |
16 |
Leicester
|
12 | -8 | 10 |
17 |
Wolves
|
12 | -8 | 9 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
12 | -10 | 9 |
19 |
Crystal Palace
|
12 | -7 | 8 |
20 |
Southampton
|
12 | -15 | 4 |