Manchester United V Newcastle United:STEVE HARPER associates Old Trafford with many things and pain looms large among them. "I played there a few years ago, popped a double hernia and needed an operation," Newcastle United's goalkeeper said. "I was that busy. I think I was overworked." For so long Shay Given's St James' Park understudy, Harper is back at Manchester United's home as Chris Hughton's undisputed first choice tonight when Newcastle's Premier League return sees them thrown in at the deep end.

“We know it will be very tough,” Harper said, well aware Alex Ferguson can deploy a combination of Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez, Dimitar Berbatov and his former Tyneside team-mate Michael Owen in attack. “We are under no illusions but this is what we worked hard for last year. And this is a stronger club than the one which got relegated just over 12 months ago, there’s a stronger dressingroom and a stronger spirit. We’re happy and stable, it’s all good. Last year was fantastic. It was great for the fans to go back to places they had not been to for a long time and see us win a lot.”

Not that he is nostalgic for the Championship. “It’s very disappointing to see pundits tipping us for relegation, this club has been an easy target for too long,” Harper said. “Our first aim is to get enough points to stay in the Premier League – but that is the minimum we’re hoping for.”

If Harper seems a little more circumspect than Sol Campbell – who has said European qualification is possible – it is because he has seen too many false dawns by the Tyne.

St James’ sides have a horrible history of underachievement but Hughton’s ensemble intend to punch above their weight.

“Camaraderie is a big part of our armoury now,” Harper said. “I’ve been here a long time and seen the odd difficult character around the dressingroom and the harm it does to the squad. Now, though, we have a good unit – everyone can give and take.”

A year ago newly relegated Newcastle bonded at a pre-season training camp in Ireland. “We went back to the same place this summer,” Harper said. “We had another good week – if you can call mountain biking at 7am before breakfast good. While we were there we talked a lot.”

During that Irish interlude, Joey Barton decided to begin growing a moustache and endeavoured to persuade team-mates to follow his example and refuse to shave their upper lips until Newcastle win a Premier League game. Harper is not on trend. “It was a good bit of banter among the lads when Joey started to grow his moustache,” he said. “But I get a hint of ginger in mine so as soon as anyone mentions the ginger word, I shave it off.”

Hughton’s goalkeeper trusts things will not become too hairy on the Old Trafford pitch tonight where he must cope without Campbell – who is not yet match fit after missing the opening weeks of pre-season training - in front of him in central defence.

A dislocated shoulder means Steven Taylor is sidelined until November but the future of a defender whose Newcastle contract runs out next summer was cast into doubt yesterday when Paul Stretford, Taylor’s agent, described negotiations over a new deal as “difficult and drawn out”.

With Hughton – who after dropping Owen last year must hope the United striker does not exact revenge tonight – reaching a similar impasse in his pursuit of Hatem Ben Arfa, the Marseille playmaker and left-winger, Newcastle have asked Everton about the possibility of signing Victor Anichebe, the Nigeria forward. Aged 22 and with a year remaining on his Goodison Park contract, Anichebe fits the profile of the young, relatively cheap players Hughton has been told to recruit.

Ben Arfa, though, remains the top target. He flew to the north-east on Friday but returned to France without talking formally to St James’ Park officials after Marseille threatened to report Newcastle to Fifa.

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is still a month away from returning to action, according Ferguson. The England captain has spent the last two months recovering from the knee ligament injury which ruled him out of the World Cup.

Ferguson revealed on July 25th that the 31-year-old would not be back in action for six weeks, ruling him out of the start of the new season. That estimation now looks to have been slightly optimistic.

Ferguson said: “Rio is nowhere near, no. He’s doing little bits of jogging and things like that but I think he’s a month away.

“We always anticipated it would take time. It’s a knee ligament and, although it wasn’t what you’d call a serious one, it was a hard one. You have to take time with knee ligaments.”

• Guardian Service