It was not until soon after the end of the war in 1945 that Man United truly established themselves as a top tier side having only spent one season outside of the top flight since 1938. Dating back to when this fixture was played out in the 1890s and 1910s, we won the first five encounters when Man United travelled to St. James’ Park including a 5-0 thrashing in February 1907.

In my lifetime we have won this fixture four times: October 1996 (5-0), February 2000 (3-0), September 2001 (4-3) and, most recently, January 2012 (3-0). One element of hope going into Sunday’s match is that Jose Mourinho, who worked as Sir Bobby Robson’s assistant at Barcelona, has never won a league match at St. James’ Park with six previous attempts.

Facts and Figures

All Competitions

Man United wins: 76

Newcastle wins: 40

Draws: 39

Premier League

Man United wins: 26

Draws: 14

Newcastle wins: 5

Premier League at St. James’ Park

Man United wins: 12

Draws: 6

Newcastle wins: 4

Previous ten (all competitions)

Man United wins: 7 (24 goals)

Draws: 2

Newcastle wins: 1 (10 goals)

Biggest wins (in this fixture)

Newcastle United 5 - 0 Man United (02/02/1907)

Newcastle United 5 – 0 Man United (09/02/1929)

Newcastle United 5 – 0 Man United (20/10/1996)

“It’s Philippe Albert, Ohh! That’s absolutely glorious!” That line of commentary from Martin Tyler gives me Goosebumps every time I watch that beautiful dink from outside of the box from Toon legend, Philippe Albert to put a delicious cherry on a very sweet cake as Keegan handed out a 5-0 thrashing to Fergie. I think it is safe to say that Keegan “loved” every minute of that match. However, it would be unfair of me to single out Keegan and Albert for praise because it was a fantastic team performance. Darren Peacock’s header, which only just crossed the line, broke the deadlock followed by an excellent but somewhat typical piece of David Ginola class on the half hour mark. A Les Ferdinand header and Shearer reacting quickest to a rebound made it 4-0 which set up a beautiful finale: cue Philippe Albert.

Biggest defeat (in this fixture)

Newcastle United 1 – 6 Man United (12/10/1907)

Like I mentioned in my previous article earlier in the week, we have only gained two of our twenty-five points against teams in the top half this season. On this basis, I would be overjoyed with a draw. In all honesty, if I was offered the cha

nce to be outside of the relegation zone at the end of the weekend, I would accept that. Despite our match going ahead on Sunday, the matches taking place on Saturday are of a high importance to us as Crystal Palace are away at Goodison Park, Stoke are at home to Brighton and Swansea come up against Burnley at the Liberty Stadium.