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The two teams who fought for the Carabao Cup (EFL Cup) championship cup will meet in the league this time to claim the right to progress to the European Football Federation Champions League (UCL).
Newcastle United and Manchester United clash in the 29th round of the English Premier League (EPL) in the 2022-23 season at St. James, located in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tawinweir, England at 0:30 on the 3rd (Korea time).
The two teams faced off in the EFL Cup final about a month ago (last February 27) at Wembley Stadium in England. At that time, the result was a 2-0 victory for Manchester United, and Man United managed to escape the club’s dark days by lifting the official championship cup in some six years after winning the Europa League (UEL) in 2017. To the Conversely, Newcastle were aiming to win the club’s first EFL Cup, but unfortunately fell to their knees.
Manchester United and Newcastle, who clashed over the championship cup, will face off in the league this time. Currently, Newcastle are 5th with 47 points and Manchester United are 3rd with 50 points.
# Europe’s ‘counterattack king’, Rashford is in the middle
The first class contributor to Man Utd’s defeat against Newcastle in the EFL Cup final was, of course, Marcus Rashford. He scored the team’s second goal and the key goal at the time, and is clearly responsible for United’s attack this season. Rashford was left out of the England national team due to injury during the A game in March, but returned to team training ahead of this game and increased his chances of playing against Newcastle.
According to the sports statistics site ‘Opta’ (opta), on 10 March, Manchester United scored 12 goals in a quick counter-attack in the official competition, which is the highest score among teams belonging to the ‘5 major leagues’ of Europe. Six of these 12 goals were scored by Rashford, the top scorer among players in Europe’s top five leagues. Rashford, who leads the attack of the ‘counterattack king’ Manchester United, records the most goals in the team this season with 14 goals in 26 games in the league.
Man Utd, whose key players have also returned, are also on the rise. After losing 0-7 to Liverpool in the league on the 6th of last month, United are unbeaten with 3 wins and 1 draw in 4 official games. In addition, this season against Newcastle, they are unbeaten with 1 win and 1 draw in 2 games, and at the same time, they did not concede a single goal in the previous 2 games.
However, the variable is ‘missing’ Casemiro and the atmosphere of the league. Casemiro is banned for 4 league games after being sent off against Southampton on the 13th, so he cannot play against Newcastle. Casemiro scored against Newcastle alongside Rashford in the last EFL Cup final. In addition, although Manchester United’s recent official match performance is positive, it is a concern for Man United that they have not scored a single goal against Southampton and Liverpool in the previous two league matches.
# Best ‘shield’ in the league, ‘revenge’ in the EFL Cup
If Manchester United have a window of quick counter-attack this season, Newcastle have the best ‘shield’ in the league. Newcastle have conceded 19 points in 26 league games this season, recording a goal conceding rate of 0.7 per game. This is the lowest run rate in the Premier League based on 26R, and the lowest run rate after SSC Napoli and Barcelona in the ‘big 5 leagues’ in Europe.
Newcastle are as sharp in attack as they are in solid defence. Based on the round above, Newcastle are recording 1.5 goals per game (8th in the league) with 39 goals in the league, and just 0.1 goals away from Man Utd, who are averaging 1.6 goals in the league (7th in the league). alliance). In addition, he has scored 1 goal per game with 5 goals in his last 5 league games.
Above all, Man Utd’s key midfielder Casemiro, who recently lost the EFL Cup, is unable to compete, and Rashford is not in normal form due to injury. In particular, fans criticized Rashford for not focusing on recovery after leaving the national team after it was confirmed that he had traveled to the United States during the A game period, despite having normally completed team training. It is a situation where the ‘best case’ can be drawn where Man Utd’s top scorer and key player cannot compete.
However, even in the above situation, there is a ‘weakness’ that Newcastle are not guaranteed to win. Newcastle failed to score a goal in the last 5 games against three teams, namely Liverpool (6th), Manchester City (2nd) and Manchester United (3rd), who are ranked 6th or higher in the league, and have lost helplessly. In addition, among the teams ranked 6th or higher in the league, including Man Utd, Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool, apart from Tottenham, they have not won a league this season.
The reason why Newcastle’s supremacy cannot be assured even in the best situation where the opposing team’s ace is uncertain is because there is no victory against Manchester United and the best teams in the league this season.
Manchester United are currently third in the league with 50 points from 26 games, while Newcastle are fifth with 47 points from 26 games. If Man Utd wins over Newcastle, it will further widen the gap with Tottenham in 4th (49 points in 28 games) with 53 points in 27 games, strengthening 3rd place and getting closer to progressing to finals UCL next season.
If Newcastle also win against Man Utd, they can move to 3rd place in the league beyond Tottenham and Man Utd with 50 points from 27 games, and can take an advantageous position in advancing to the UCL finals, which gets up to 4th place. In addition, Man United have failed to score points in their last three league games, which will still allow Tottenham to chase.
Now that the league has entered the second half of this season, the game between the two teams will go beyond just 3 points and become an important game that will determine the fate of the team next season.
Written by = Yong Hwan-joo, the first member of the ‘IF Reporters’
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