The big thing to keep an eye on when the Newcastle United team is announced ahead of Man United game

Newcastle United are Manchester-bound today to take on Man United at Old Trafford in the 8pm Monday night kick-off live on Sky Sports.

Newcastle are hoping to extend their excellent run of form and put to bed the Premier League hoodoo that haunts them at Old Trafford.

Manchester United are probably hoping just to put in a half-decent performance after being absolutely awful this season, culminating in a 2-0 defeat to relegation-fodder Wolves last time out.

There seems to be a lot of confidence amongst the Toon Army going into this one and we're expecting it to be an entertaining night.

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Sven Botman could make his long-awaited return to the squad tonight

The team news will be released at around 6:45pm tonight and one thing that many Newcastle fans will be looking out for is the name of one Sven Botman on the team sheet.

Eddie Howe recently admitted that Botman could return before the end of the year and while he missed out against Aston Villa, the dutch defender may make the bench tonight after nine months out after having surgery on his ACL.

Jamaal Lascelles also had surgery around the same time but Howe has said that his recovery is taking longer and could be a month behind Botman.

Sven Botman may get a few minutes at Old Trafford tonight if he makes the squad

If Botman is fit enough to make the bench we expect we'll see some sort of cameo tonight, but we'll not be holding our breath for anything more than a few minutes.

He has come through a couple of reserve games and looked strong, but he will need to build up match sharpness again which he's more likely to do at reserve level than being thrown into Premier League games for prolonged periods.

Having said that, with Fabian Schar suspended for the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, he may be dropped in to cover at RCB, given the absence of Emil Krafth and Lascelles.