The State of Play
Under the management of former Bristol Rovers and Mansfield Town boss Graham Coughlan, Newport County backed up their FA Cup third round replay defeat of Eastleigh by defeating title challenging Wrexham by a goal to nil in a fiery contest in League Two last weekend. That means The Exiles are now unbeaten in seven matches with just two losses in their last 14 matches across all competitions.
Erik ten Hag is still under pressure at Old Trafford but the pressure has eased on the Manchester United boss simply because his team haven’t played in a fortnight. The Red Devils have played 30 matches across all competitions this season and, quite remarkably, they have only won three games by more than one goal – Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup, Everton in the Premier League and Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup.
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Team News
Newport County have been playing with a back three this season but quite a progressive midfield. All three of their starting midfielders last weekend against Wrexham, Bryn Morris, Harry Charsley and Aaron Wildig, are progressive and front foot players so that may be tweaked for this weekend.
Manchester United have a few players that could return to the squad this weekend. England defenders Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire are supposedly getting close to returning, whilst Victor Lindelof, Mason Mount and Tyrell Malacia are all also improving. Sofyan Amrabat remains unavailable due to his involvement with Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Expected Line-ups
Newport County: Townsend; McLoughlin, Clarke, Bennett, Delaney, Lewis; Morris, Charsley, Wildig; Evans, Palmer-Houlden
Manchester United: Onana; Wan-Bissaka, Evans, Varane, Dalot; McTominay, Mainoo; Garnacho, Fernandes, Rashford; Hojlund
What they Said
Graham Coughlan has built up his team’s chances of causing an upset as Manchester United travel to Wales on Sunday afternoon. He said that Erik ten Hag and United must expect a ‘unique and hostile atmosphere’ at Rodney Parade.
If that atmosphere is as is expected then it will be a tough test for a Manchester United side that were told by their own manager to ‘grow up’ after allowing soft goals in their 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in their most recent outing.
When and How to Watch
This match will take place at Rodney Parade on Sunday January 28th at 16:30. It will be shown live on BBC One in the UK and can be streamed via the BBC iPlayer app.
Prediction
Fourth-tier opposition is not expected to be too much of a struggle for Manchester United but there appears a general consensus that they could well make it needlessly difficult for themselves. Newport County are in good form at the moment but lack a bit of incision and quality at the top end of the pitch. Manchester United should and most likely will quite comfortably progress into the fourth round but backing a high-scoring United win goes against everything that they have showed so far this season.
