£36.5m Dan Ashworth signing embarrassed in front of Newcastle United as Alexander Isak makes Man Utd statement

Alexander Isak and Joelinton scored early to secure a fifth straight win in all competitions for Eddie Howe’s side to end 2024. Here are the five talking points from the match...

Unchanged Newcastle United

After Boxing Day’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa, Eddie Howe named an unchanged Newcastle side. Tino Livramento returned to the bench following an illness as Kieran Trippier kept his place in the side after making his first start since October last time out.

Matt Targett dropped off the bench after making his first competitive appearance for Newcastle off the bench against Villa. Martin Dubravka kept his place in goal having kept three successive Premier League clean sheets heading into the game in Nick Pope’s absence

The Slovakian ended up keeping a fourth clean sheet in a row in the Premier League without having a save to make against his former loan club.

A flying start

For the third game running, Newcastle raced out of the blocks with Alexander Isak heading the visitors in front early. After scoring inside the opening minute at Ipswich, The Magpies found the net in the second minute against Villa but had to wait until the fourth minute to find the net this time around.

Bruno Guimaraes’ switch of play to Lewis Hall saw the Magpies left-back deliver a deflected cross for Isak to nod in his eighth goal in his last six Premier League matches and his 28th goal for the club in 2024.

15 minutes later, Anthony Gordon’s cross was headed in by Joelinton to double The Magpies’ lead inside 20 minutes. While Newcastle’s opener was subject to a VAR check for offside, the second goal quickly passed any VAR scrutiny despite the ball appearing to hit off Joelinton’s shoulder before finding the net.

Isak had the ball in the net after half an hour with an emphatic finish but the flag was up for offside. Sandro Tonali then hit the post from close range as the scoreline remained 2-0.

Isak is one of the most sought after strikers in world football due to his form at Newcastle, but he made his ambitions clear after the game.

"The whole team are very ambitious,” he said. “We played Champions League last year and it is in our mind to get back there. It is a long way to go until the end of the season so I don't think we should be looking too much at the table.

“The ambition of the team is of course to get in Europe again. We just need to take one game at a time.”

Man Utd make an early change as fans make feelings clear

After a completely dominant opening half-hour from Newcastle, Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim hooked summer signing Joshua Zirkzee to the sound of a roaring cheer from the home fans at Old Trafford. Kobbie Mainoo replaced the Dutch international, who stormed straight down the tunnel following his early withdrawal.

Zirkzee was a player scouted by Newcastle prior to his £36.5million move to Man United from Bologna in the summer. After three goals in his opening 19 Premier League appearances from the 23-year-old, The Magpies are probably glad they didn’t pursue the forward further.

It was a change The Red Devils needed to make and one that saw them get a foothold in the game for the first time. Newcastle would have been frustrated not to be further in front but Manchester United fired a couple of warning shots in the build-up to half-time with Rasmus Hojlund and Casemiro both coming close to pulling a goal back.

At that point, the home crowd started to get more involved in the game and behind their side after an abject start to the match.

Fabian Schar suspended

Newcastle were able to keep Manchester United at arm’s length for the most part in the second half as they limited the hosts to just one shot on target in the match that was well blocked by Lewis Hall.

The only real negative to the match was a late yellow card for Fabian Schar that will see him suspended for the upcoming trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday (12:30pm kick-off). Schar was booked in the closing stages of the match for a foul on Rasmus Hojlund, leaving Newcastle’s centre-back options limited for the next two games.

Jamaal Lascelles and Emil Krafth remain out injured and Sven Botman is still yet to feature for the first time since his nine-month absence with an ACL injury.

Lloyd Kelly is fit and available to slot in at centre-back but prefers to play on the left as opposed to the gap Schar’s suspension leaves on the right. The Swiss defender will also miss the Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg at Arsenal in the following match due to his yellow card picked up against Brentford in the quarter-final.

"Yeah, the coincidence is he's going to miss two games, of course, because of the Carabao Cup game as well,” Howe said. “So it's a big blow for us and for him that we're going to have to change our back line because it's been so stable for us in the middle of the pitch. Fab and Dan have built up a really good partnership, but that will give an opportunity to someone else and hopefully the team won't be adversely affected."

More than a win for Newcastle United

For what felt like the first time, Newcastle headed to Old Trafford in the Premier League as favourites to win the match. Howe’s side lived up to that title and expectation from the very first minute as they raced into an early 2-0 lead and should have had more goals to show for their efforts in the first half.

Newcastle have led at Old Trafford many times before but it has never looked so comfortable for The Magpies. As Ruben Amorim admitted at full time, ‘Newcastle are a better team’ than his.

After one win in 42 visits to Old Trafford, Newcastle have now won two of their last three after last season’s 3-0 Carabao Cup triumph. Howe’s side have also won three of their last four encounters with The Red Devils, as many as their previous 18 before that.

After finishing above Manchester United for the first time in the Premier Lague last season, Newcastle now sit 10 points clear of them at the midway point in the season. All too familiar history would suggest that is not an insurmountable gap to close.

But Newcastle’s inferiority complex when it comes to Manchester United has truly been shattered by Howe and his players.