Sir Alex Ferguson made five changes to the side that lost to Man City at the weekend. Wayne Rooney, Chris Smalling, Ryan Giggs, Anderson and Javier Hernandez all returned to the starting line-up. Rio Ferdinand, Dimitar Berbatov, Paul Scholes, Antonio Valencia and Ji-Sung Park all made way.
Man United starting XI- Van der Sar; O'Shea, Smalling, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Carrick, Anderson, Giggs, Rooney and Hernandez.
Man United subs: Kuszczak, Evans, Fabio, Gibson, Park, Valencia and Owen.
Man United almost had a early goal after a fantastic ball by Wayne Rooney, found Javier Hernandez but a brilliant save by Tim Krul prevented the Mexican from scoring.
After that chance, Newcastle pressurised the Man United goal for a few minutes. A decent run from Jonas Gutierrez ended in him having a effort at goal, which was deflected away for a corner by Smalling. Man United eventually cleared the ball after Fabricio Coloccini headed it towards goal from a corner and Cheik Tiote hit his effort straight at Edwin Van Der Sar.
Newcastle may have been piling the pressure on United but it was the away side who had the two best chances of the first 20 minutes. The first was Hernandez' chance, the second fell to Rooney. The striker flicked the ball over Mike Williamson and went through on goal but his shot took a deflection off Krul and went over the bar. The referee didn't spot the deflection and Man United weren't awarded a corner.
Luis Nani wanted a penalty after going down in the area after a challenge from Gutierrez but the Portuguese went down far too easily and United weren't awarded a penalty.
Hernandez came close to scoring the opening goal, Giggs fed the ball through to the Mexican but Coloccini did well to take the ball off Hernandez. Peter Lovenkrands had a superb chance for Newcastle after being left unmarked but he nodded his header wide.
Man United got off to a good start in the second half. Nani's cross found Giggs, who had space in the penalty area but his header was straight at Krul.
The referee could have given Newcastle a penalty after a challenge from Anderson on Lovenkrands but Lee Probert waved play on. Minutes later Lovenkrands was involved in the play again, this time he headed the ball over the bar.
Man United had their own chances, Hernandez almost got onto the end of Anderson's long ball but Krul came off his line to collect the ball.
Giggs should have scored after Patrice Evra cut the ball back to him but the Welshman hit his left footed shot wide. Man United's first substitution was to bring on Antonio Valencia for Anderson.
Steven Ireland came on for Newcastle, nearly scoring with his first touch. Ameobi knocked the ball down for Ireland but the shot was hit narrowly wide. Not long after, Man United were awarded a free-kick, which was hit into the wall by Giggs and away for a corner. The resulting corner was played short to Nani, his right footed shot fell just wide of Krul's post.
Michael Owen came on for Man United with less than 10 minutes remaining, he replaced Nani.
There were four minutes of time added on. During that time it looked like United may have been awarded a penalty after Hernandez was fouled in the area, instead the Mexican was shown a yellow card.
shocking display
shocking ref
we should of had 2 pens and they should of had 1
Beyond irritated about this game i thought overall it was fairly open and both teams had chances i think we shaded it in 2nd half. The Ref and Giggs just had an appalling game, the ref christ almighty got calls wrong all over for both teams. If Lovenkrands penalty wasn't one then why wasn't he booked when Chicharito was booked before final whistle for almost exactly the same thing. A complete farce and the FA once again prove just how unworthy and corrupt they really are, utter shambles.
what a ref 2 clear penalties, 1 clear handball, and 1 so called dive from hernandez.
someoen reply if im wrong but i tried to calculate this but i think if we beat everton and arsenal i think weve won the league.
we are 7 pionts ahead now, say arsenal win all there games and then they play us if win our game against everton and we also beat arsenal will be 10 points clear. say we loose our remaining 3 games which are i think, chelsea,blackburn and blackpool wev still have 1 point left which would mean weve won the league. ofcourse were not going to loose any of theses matches im just saying if that was to happen that just means we have to beat EVERTON and ARSENAL someone reply if im write please