Newcastle Utd v Manchester Utd, Saturday, 12.30 (Sky Sports 1)
Manchester United and Newcastle United are both trying to put painful defeats in the last week behind them. Dominic Fifield reports.
Anywhere else and the sense of expectancy might have deflated by now but on Tyneside, a week after maddening defeat at Everton appeared to puncture Newcastle's Premiership pursuit, there is still hope. "Beat Manchester United and we're back in it," said Alan Shearer, deadpan. "Things would be blown wide open again."
For Newcastle, trotting out amid the din at St James' Park this lunchtime, nothing less than victory over Alex Ferguson's side will do if the dream of a first league title since 1927 is not to become anticlimax. The summit is six points away with as many games to play, all against opponents no higher than 15th in the table. Should they halve that deficit today and watch United and Arsenal nullify each other at Highbury next Wednesday, Newcastle would breathe again.
Yet history will have to be repeated if it is to be made at the end of the season. It is four years since United last won at Newcastle and the memory of last season's blistering 4-3 home success, sealed with a Shearer effort that was later ruled as a Wes Brown own-goal, still lingers. Roy Keane was dismissed in the dying seconds of that furious match after clashing with the home side's talismanic striker.
Two seasons earlier the Irishman lasted only 64 minutes in this arena before being sent off, his team-mates subsiding 3-0 with Shearer scoring twice late on against the 10 men.
The former England captain has not scored in his last four league games in this arena, stretching back to mid-January. Exorcising that uncharacteristically anaemic form would go a long way towards re-establishing Newcastle's credentials after the contentious wreckage at Goodison Park last Sunday.
"It's not as though this game wasn't already an important match but the defeat at Everton has simply added to its significance," said the 32-year-old, who departed Merseyside fuming after the referee Neale Barry ignored Thomas Gravesen's reckless foul on Olivier Bernard in the build-up to the decisive penalty.
"If we win, we're back in it; if we lose, we're out of it," conceded Bobby Robson, anxious to make amends for the 5-3 thrashing suffered at Old Trafford in November. "It's as simple as that but then I've been practising somersaults on the pitch because I said I'd do that if we finished fourth, let alone third or higher. To go from 20th to 17th is pleasing but jumping one place at the top is far more difficult because you're in amongst the cream."
Third place and a return to the Champions League is the very least Newcastle deserve after another mouthwatering campaign. Their form is centred upon swashbuckling home displays; only Leeds have departed Tyneside victorious from Newcastle's last 21 Premiership fixtures, stretching back to the run-in last season.
Robson's achievement in transforming a side apparently doomed to relegation when he took the reins in 1999 into realistic title challengers, either this season or next, is staggering.
"We've come a long way in three years," said the 70-year-old. "We were staring relegation in the face and it was a slightly sinking ship at the time but we've plugged a few holes since then. Finishing fourth again, like we did last year, would mean we've not gone backwards but third would see us do really well. Next year, with the players that bit older, we can go on and improve.
"I went to Madrid this week and saw about four players with whom, if the chairman gave me £150 million to spend, I could turn us into champions overnight. If you have a lovely house, you always want a nicer one, but realistically you have to build and that takes time. We've invested wisely in young players and have an extensive crop of youngsters; we're not talking about five, I mean around 14. There are similarities now with some of our young lads and the Manchester United boys when they were starting out. We're trying to make this club attractive for players so that they have no hesitation in joining us. It's not a bad place to be."
Not that United will be relishing their visit. They may have scored more goals - 247 - against Newcastle than against any other side in their history but the deposed champions arrive on Tyneside shorn of the hamstrung David Beckham, who remains a serious doubt even for the game at Arsenal. And they are still smarting from the run-around endured at the Bernabeu.
"It's not about recovering from what happened on Tuesday," insisted Ferguson. "We've had this date in our calendar for a long time now and, if we don't win, well, that could be it. I don't think Newcastle are out of it, either. It's just that things are a lot harder for them now."
Back to Robson: "I said to my players: 'How would we react if we were in the same boat as Manchester after they were battered in midweek?' We know what to expect. For them to win the league the next two games are absolutely hot for them. Now it's the same for us. We've done well at home and teams haven't found it an easy place to come this season but that's not to say they won't beat us. They'll just have to be at their best to do so. This a massive game, so get in early because it will go off like a crackerjack."
Guardian Service