After losing to Liverpool at Anfield, Newcastle are set to face another giant of English football, with wounded Manchester United in desperate need of a win at St James Park.

It was only a matter of time before Newcastle would start to struggle following their brilliant start to the season, and it appears that time is now.

The Magpies have suffered a big dip in form of late, taking just 5 points from their last 8 Premier League games, and they could definitely do without the clash with defending champions right now.

Newcastle shared spoils with both Arsenal and Tottenham at St James Park this season, but they suffered a heavy defeat to Chelsea, so the jury is still out on whether they can match the title contenders at their own ground.

Having scored at least one goal in 9 of last 11 games, Newcastle are now just 1.50 (1/2) with Sportingbet to score against United as well.

Gabriel Obertan is likely to miss out after suffering a toe injury against Liverpool, whereas Steven Taylor, Nile Ranger, Danny Guthrie and Sylvain Marveaux remain sidelined.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-1-1): Krul – Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Santon – R. Taylor, Cabaye, Tiote, Gutierrez – Ben Arfa – Ba.

After the four-match winning run helped them close the gap behind their title rivals, Manchester United were expected to put extra pressure on City by beating Blackburn at home.

However, that proved to be too big a task as United somehow managed to lose the game at Old Trafford, leaving Sir Alex Ferguson furious on his 70th birthday.

The defeat surprisingly didn’t prove too costly as Manchester City lost their game against Sunderland, but Fergie is going to demand a response from his players after the dismal performance against Rovers, nonetheless.

Manchester United players almost always have a positive response to the famed hairdryer treatment, so odds of 1.76 (19/25) offered by 188BET on away win look too good to pass.

Wayne Rooney is expected to return after he was left out of the squad for the Blackburn game, with Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs also likely to be in contention.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Lindegaard – Rafael, Ferdinand, Jones, Evra – Anderson, Carrick – Valencia, Rooney, Nani – Welbeck.