I remember, many moons ago, when Newcastle were our closest title rivals and they beat us 5-0 in this very fixture (that match was actually over 15 years ago now but for many a United fan, it can be remembered as vividly as yesterday).

However, it would appear that Newcastle have been made to pay for that one ten-fold as we have generally beaten them ever since – their only other win over us was way back in 2001 when they ran out 4-3 winners in a match made infamous by Roy Keane’s attempted punch at Alan Shearer!

Of course, they somehow held us to a 1-1 draw just over a month ago at Old Trafford but that was when they were playing well and I think it is fair to say that luck wasn’t on our side that day.

Newcastle started this season extremely well and for a time, the Toon Army were tottling off to bed with little dreams of Champions League football next season but it was probably only a matter of time before the run ended and they found themselves in a more “Newcastle-like” position in the league and they currently sit in seventh place so by my reckoning, they still have a place or two to drop.

Now, having said that, they will probably stuff us 5-0 again tonight but I’m tending to think that we’re not going to suffer two defeats in a row.

As for our team selection, there were a couple of surprises in the Blackburn match with Anderson and Rafael coming back from injury and, of course, Rooney being dropped but I expect him to be back for this one tonight with possibly the in-form Berbatov alongside him.

The defence and midfield remains as tricky as ever to predict so I’m not even going to attempt it.

The main thing is that we need three points tonight in order to stay in touch with Manchester City who, of course, beat Liverpool 3-0 last night to go three points clear again.

I think we can do it tonight. Our away form has been extremely good this season (in fact, we have the best away record in the league by quite a margin) whilst Newcastle’s recent home form has been patchy.

The hard thing to predict is whether or not we will be able to continue our run of clean sheets in away games. We have won the last five without conceding a single goal because if we can do that then I believe that this will be a low scoring game – possibly 1-0 or 2-0 to Manchester United. However, I think that the run will come to an end tonight and we will need to score at least two to pick up the three points.

For this reason, I’m going to have a stab at the Over 2.5 Goals market.

The bet is 2 points Over 2.5 Goals @ 1.87 with Bet365.

Today, Sir Alex celebrates his 70th Birthday and there’s nothing he’d like more than three points in this early kick-off against low-flying Blackburn when they turn up at Old Trafford.

Steve Kean will probably just be glad that the vociferous element of his own “supporters” will likely be drowned out here.

Blackburn’s away record hasn’t actually been that bad recently (better than their home form actually) which must say something about how their own fans’ protests are having an effect on the team. Anyway, that’s all by the by. Que sera sera and all that.

Having watched us smack in ten goals without reply in our last two games, Blackburn will no doubt be reminded of this fixture last season when we beat them 7-1. To be fair, such a scoreline seems unlikely because whilst Blackburn are losing and drawing far too often, they aren’t actually conceding too many and aren’t getting beaten by many.

As usual, we have our own problems going into this one in terms of injuries and it is our defence which is looking a bit ragged at the moment after news that Smalling has some kind of viral illness (tonsillitis according to Fergie) and Evans will be sidelined by the injury he picked up in our last match. With the FA Cup tie against City looming large, it seems like a gamble for Fergie to play Rio in this one so I wouldn’t expect him to play, even if fit but Jones has apparently recovered from the knock to the face he took a couple of games ago and could resume in defence but it’s looking likely that he will be partnering Carrick in there.

Evra will take the left but the right could see Fryers given another chance to shine.

The midfield, therefore, is likely to be Nani, Park, Gibson and Valencia.

Upfront could be interesting and I wonder if we might see the Berbatov/Rooney option restored from the start here or even Rooney again rested with Hernandez playing alongside Berbatov from the start.

Given the number of injuries we’ve got at the moment, that doesn’t look like too bad a line-up and I fancy it would be more than enough to take care of Blackburn but they do have some decent players of their own and I still can’t shake the feeling that this one has “banana-skin” written on it somewhere.

However, with City playing tomorrow, this is an excellent opportunity for us to take the top spot for at least a day and put City under some pressure as the “chasers” and surely no mistakes will be made on our side.

I think we will win this game but I’m not sure that it will be by another landslide and so backing Blackburn in the Asian Handicap might prove profitable.

The bet is 2 points Blackburn +2.5 @ 1.84 with Victor Chandler.

Once again, Fergie had no choice but to ring the changes for this one as Phil Jones either failed to recover from the facial injury received in the last game or he was just rested as a matter of course but Michael Carrick, who has been in peak form of late in the middle of the park was brought back into central defence – and continued to show that he’s not too shabby in there either.

To be fair, United largely dominated this match and our defence had very little to do so it was a good time to have defensive problems, I suppose.

Park put us 1-0 ahead after just around eight minutes and a cricket score looked likely but the score remained that way until almost half time when Wigan had a player sent off and Berbatov got the first of three goals just moments later.

In the second half, Berba grabbed himself another with an excellent turn and shot (the kind of thing we all saw him doing for Spurs all the time a few years ago), the excellent Valencia scored a screamer into the bottom corner and Berbatov was able to seal his hat-trick and make it a 5-0 romp with a late penalty.

In fairness, Wigan should not have found themselves down to ten men – the sending off was extremely harsh (I’m sure Wigan could appeal the decision successfully). It also should not have been a penalty towards the end of the game – Park was clearly tripped outside the box but that probably balanced out an earlier penalty appeal when I thought Hernandez was clearly tripped around the twenty minute mark only for the ref to wave it away.

However, we were streets ahead of Wigan today and I do think that we would have won the game even without the decisions going our way. We were supposed to be the team with the defensive crisis but Wigan appeared very open at the back at times and with players like Rooney, Hernandez, Berbatov, Macheda, Nani, Park, Valencia and Giggs ploughing into them, it was always going to be just a matter of time before we got the breakthroughs.

The good news was to get even better after this one as Manchester City were held to a highly unusual (for them) 0-0 draw against West Brom which meant that we finished the day level on points and even that goal difference which at one point looked unassailable (and growing) is now down to just five – not bad considering the injury list we have been carrying almost from the first day of the season.

Incidentally, the injury list took another addition during this game as Jonny Evans limped off with a leg injury which is likely to see him sidelined for a couple of weeks or so and it looks vital that we get Rio and/or Jones back in time for the next game or we’re going to be playing with a defensive line-up of midfielders again.

For now though, the good times are back with us. Everyone is scoring goals. Everyone is reaching peak form (I thought Evra, who has been quick to “talk the talk” a lot of late, was finally seen “walking the walk” in this game and he was excellent) and we still had the chance to give young Zeke Fryers a run-out for the second half here – and again, he had a solid game.

Fergie said before the games kicked off today that City were favourites and he’s been saying for the last week or two that he’d be happy if we’re thereabouts come the New Year.

Mind games? Probably. They seem to be working though and City who probably felt that they would be over the hill and far away by now are suddenly feeling the pressure of leading from the front, it seems and Fergie will continue to turn the screw from here til May.

For obvious reasons, time is at a premium today so I’m going to make this one very brief.

We’re playing well at the moment whilst Wigan continue to come generally close in many games but mostly leave without a cigar. They have enjoyed some decent results in recent games though and do seem to be getting their act together after a disastrous string of defeats.

However, I just think that at Old Trafford, we have to be looking to come away with a comfortable win this afternoon. Unfortunately, the bookies are thinking exactly the same and the prices for us on the -1.5 AH are around 1.5 and the Over 2.5 goals is around 1.4 so there’s nothing being given away there.

For this one, I’m going to bet that we get at Wigan from the off and score fairly early on.

The bet is 2 points on the first goal to be scored within 0 – 27 minutes @ 1.80 with Victor Chandler.

Well, I got this one wrong but on occasions such as this, I don’t mind too much.

Fergie did make a few changes but not really what I’d expected. Rio was rested so Jones pulled back into the centre-back position with Giggs taking Jones’ place in the midfield. Lindegaard came in for De Gea. Basically, the changes weren’t particularly drastic and I think it showed in yet another very impressive performance, particularly in the first half where Fulham barely got a sniff of the ball and found themselves 3-0 down by the time the half-time whistle blew.

In the second half, Fulham finally came alive and put us under some pressure but couldn’t grab a goal despite a few close efforts and eventually, they ran out of steam which allowed us to grab another couple late on to make the scoreline so emphatic.

However, yet again, victory came at a cost. Phil Jones went off in the first half after getting a knock in the face – the seriousness of which has yet to be revealed but some reports are suggesting it could be a fractured cheekbone which could mean 4-6 weeks on the sidelines. If that is the case then it shows what a tough nut he is because he did actually play on for a while (and made a great tackle in his own box to deny Fulham a decent chance after the clash) but it was clear he was still suffering the effects and had to make way for Ashley Young to come on.

This meant that Smalling went into the centre, Valencia took the right-back slot and Young went to the right of midfield.

However, Young himself got involved in a collision which meant that he had to limp off and make way for Park and early reports suggest he will be out for 2-3 weeks.

I don’t quite know what we’ve done to deserve all of this bad luck with injuries but it is now getting beyond ridiculous and during this period where fixtures come thick and fast, we can scarcely afford to have so many players out injured. However, whilst these words might come back to bite me, I think we have been a little fortunate with the fixture list in that we seem to be playing a lot of teams that are towards the foot of the table and our next two matches are against Wigan and Blackburn – two teams currently in the relegation zone.

In any case, we keep up the pressure on City at the top and have even started to make a little bit of inroads into the goal difference and this probably bodes well for when the pendulum of luck swings our way.

A tricky fixture awaits us this evening as we make the trip to Craven Cottage to take on one of those strange sides that are often cannon fodder away from home but prove incredibly difficult to beat when on their home turf.

In fact, we have only managed to beat them three times in our last nine visits there (our last victory coming almost four years ago now) and they have beaten us twice… the other four were obviously draws.

They have been beaten there already this season by Everton and Tottenham but have beaten Liverpool and held City to a draw (although I seem to remember that City were 2-0 up and cruising in that game before they took their foot off the gas and allowed Fulham to get back into the match – although Fulham clearly deserve credit for taking advantage of the situation and battling to the end).

What makes this one a little harder to predict is the feeling that Fergie will probably make a few changes this evening. He has stuck with the same team for two games running which is unusual in itself – three on the bounce would almost be unheard of.

Given that Hernandez played half an hour against QPR over the weekend, I’d say it’s 99% certain that he will start tonight should Fergie go with the 4-4-2 type formation but it is the midfield areas that are hard to predict. The Valencia, Carrick, Jones and Nani quartet has looked fantastic in our last two games but I have a feeling that Fergie might decide to rest Jones now and perhaps bring in Park. Ashley Young might even get the nod over Valencia.

Due to injuries, the back four probably picks itself at the moment so I’d expect Smalling, Evans, Rio and Evra with De Gea in goal.

As for Fulham, well, there does seem to be a bit of a changing of the guard there since Jol took over as manager and whilst I hear that Bobby Zamora is fit to play, rumours that there have been a fall-out between player and manager won’t go away and the striker is not guaranteed a place tonight.

One player that will surely be eager to impress tonight is Bryan Ruiz and it will be interesting to see how he gets on.

Anyway, prediction time. A tough game is expected and we’ll do extremely well to come back with the three points and even if we do win, I don’t think it will be by many and I do expect Fulham to score.

The bet is 2 points Both Teams to Score @ 1.91 with Coral.

Fergie did something that has become increasingly rare for this one and kept the same line-up that played so well against Wolves in our last match and any doubts that that might have been a one-off were quickly erased as we tore into QPR from the off and went ahead through Wayne Rooney after just around 54 seconds.

With it being vital that we took the three points here, it could have become “one of those games” had we not taken the early lead as the pressure on us would have mounted but that early gift allowed us to relax a little although it could be argued that we may have relaxed a little too much as the first half ended 1-0 to us when it really could and probably should have been more like 3-0.

Fortunately, Carrick, clearly playing with a lot more confidence of late, went on a ridiculous run from the halfway line just ten minutes into the second half and slotted home neatly. Carrick has come in for a bit of stick down the years for being too negative and I did say in my last review that I expected him to provide the defensive cover so that Jones could get forward but there was nothing negative about his run and shot here and it was great to see. If anything, he was probably helped by his reputation for being a bit negative and goal-shy (this was his first since February 2010) as everyone expected him to pass towards Rooney who had taken a decent position in the area and this did seem to wrong-foot Cerny a bit who had started to move towards Rooney, leaving the gap to his right which Carrick found.

That’s not to say that Jones didn’t bomb forward on occasion and one time in the first half, he was played clean through by Rooney with only the keeper to beat but a mixture of a good save from Cerny and perhaps Jones showing why he isn’t a centre-forward saw his efforts thwarted.

Welbeck did manage to put the ball in the net but it was ruled offside although replays showed that he was probably level and the goal could well have stood.

Valencia has looked back to his best in recent games and he was fantastic again in this match and was only denied the goal his all-round performance deserved by another super-save from Cerny.

Jonny Evans, who has never scored for United, really should have broken his duck with a free-header directly in front of goal with Cerny totally out of position but he could only manage to hit the crossbar from a few yards out.

Rio Ferdinand had one of his best games for quite some time with a commanding performance in the centre of defence and, if he can keep it up, then we might not miss Vidic quite as much as we all fear.

Another bit of good news was the return of Chicharito who came on for Welbeck after an hour. I didn’t realise that he had recovered from his recent injury but clearly he is and will likely take Welbeck’s place when we take on Fulham on Wednesday evening.

Again, like against Wolves, I think we do have to keep things in perspective about the quality of opponent we were dealing with here and the number of chances we failed to put away but this was quite possibly our best all-round performance of the season.

QPR arrived in the Premier League this season with a reputation for being a pretty formidable home side but this appeared to have been blown away when they were trounced by, of all teams, Bolton, 4-0 on the opening day of the season. However, they have proven themselves to be a tough nut to crack at Loftus Road since then and, whilst they have only won once at home this season, the only other defeat was against Manchester City last month when City overcame them 3-2 and, whilst I can’t remember the details, I seem to remember that QPR were somewhat unlucky to come out of that game with nothing.

Anyway, I think it is fair to say that we’ll do well to come out of this one with three points but it seems to be the case that that is exactly what we must do if we are to maintain the pressure on City at the top of the table. Indeed, a win here and we will hit top spot although I do expect our reign to be brief as I think city will get at least the point they require against Arsenal when they kick off a couple of hours after this match finishes.

I’m just hoping that Fergie goes with a line-up similar to that which he played against Wolves in our last match and, given the injury situation, it is difficult to see how he can deviate too much. Certainly, I’d be happy to see the Carrick/Jones central midfield given another go because I really felt that that was instrumental last time out.

It’s going to be Rooney and A.N.Other upfront and Welbeck seems to be as good as any but Diouf didn’t do his chances any harm with a midweek brace for the reserves and perhaps this is the kind of game where he might be given the chance to press his claims.

This is one of those games that is difficult to call. We will be expected to win but probably not easily. QPR are tough to beat at home but they probably draw too many and actually have one of the worst home records in the league in terms of points collected but they tend not to get beaten by many and that defeat against Bolton one the opening day stands out like a sore thumb amongst their results in recent seasons.

As for ourselves, we have not been scoring many of late and our 4-1 against Wolves last week sticks out like a sore thumb amongst a string of low-scoring performances but that was at Old Trafford against a team that is generally struggling even more than QPR after a week where the players owed themselves and the fans something to feel good about.

I’m generally torn about this one. On the one hand, there’s plenty of value to be had with going with the big United win but there’s value to be had with QPR keeping us to a draw. I don’t know whether or not last week’s 4-1 is the start of a scoring spree for Rooney and Nani or whether it was a flash in the pan.

I’d like to think that we can at least keep QPR out and keep another clean sheet and score at least one at the other end and this is the basis of my bet this week.

The bet is 2 points Under 2.5 Goals @ 2.05 with Victor Chandler.

Ever since it was confirmed that we were out of the Champions League and into the Europa League, I have been trying to decide what it all means and I have been watching the reaction of other teams in the competition and doing a bit of research into the competition. Most of this was because that idiot Platini decided to take exception to the way he (mis)interpreted Fergie’s words that Europa League football is our “punishment” for not progressing further in the Champions League.

Fergie was basically saying that the preparations and approach will now all have to be changed because we will now have to play on a Thursday as opposed to a Tuesday or Wednesday which affects our preparations for a Saturday/Sunday fixture before and after.

Failing to qualify for the next stage of the Champions League was undesirable for more than the obvious reasons.

Platini seemed to take umbrage with this because he seems to believe that the Europa League is a tournament which is highly regarded and this despite all the evidence on the contrary. For a start, if that were so, why not have the matches on Tuesday and Wednesday along with the Champions League? Answer: because it can’t compete. If that were so, why does the winner of the Champions League win around 9 million Euro whilst the winner of the Europa receives only 3 million Euro? And that is just the prize money, the difference in television and gate receipts are harder to calculate but it is fair to say that we’re probably talking of around two thirds the difference again – I know many people won’t even be bothering to turn up for the Europa League matches – especially after the club announced that it won’t be made part of the ACS scheme (a great move by the club, by the way, and could actually result in higher attendances, if not more revenue).

The problem with the Europa League is that it is a tournament for failures.

The teams in it have either failed to qualify for the Champions League or they have been given their chance in the Europa League … by failing in the Champions League.

It just smacks of being a tournament where the winner is the best of a second-rate bunch.

Yes, I know… this is obviously unfair comment. Finishing fifth in the English Premier League is clearly a position hundreds of teams in England and Wales would dream of but let’s keep this in context. Hundreds of teams in England and Wales don’t have wage bills like teams like Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham etc have. Nor do they have the pre-season expectations.

I saw Tottenham go out of the competition last night where it would seem that they did just enough to make it look like they gave it a good go but ultimately failed to progress. Harry Redknapp then said that whilst they might have done better in the earlier stages of their group phase, they might not have done so well as they have been doing in the Premier League had they done so – his priorities were clear. As he now knows that Manchester United and Manchester City are now in the tournament (the two teams that have handed his team a hiding in the Premier League), it was almost an admission that he knew his team wouldn’t be winning the Europa League and so he decided to bow out now, save himself and his players a load of agro and concentrate on the more lucrative Premier League and Champions League qualification.

I doubt very much that many Tottenham fans were lamenting their team’s exit from the Europa League in the same way that United and City fans were lamenting just over a week ago when we went out of the Champions League. And therein lies the difference.

It just isn’t the same. It never will be. The Europa League is a second-rate tournament and it should remain that way. Teams that are eliminated from the Champions League shouldn’t be entered into it. It feels like the relegation that it is. It should be a scrap between the also-rans with the promise of Champions League football for the winner. At least they will enter the misnomered Champions League as some sort of Champions.

Later this morning, we will discover who we will play in the last sixteen of this competition but it just feels like a party which we weren’t invited to but have gate-crashed at an advanced stage. The other party-goers don’t want us there, we don’t want to be there but we’re going to be drawn a hiding to nothing regardless.

Personally I hope that Fergie gives this tournament the respect it deserves. It will be great experience for Pogba, Keane, Morrison et al.

Indeed, if Fergie decided to play those players, I would be watching it all avidly and supporting them all the way.

I’d just rather see our “first teamers” challenge for something that means more now, though… like the English Premier League.

As we lined up against Basle last week, I think most people, including me, wondered why Darren Fletcher wasn’t in our midfield. As far as we were aware, he wasn’t injured, he certainly wasn’t suspended so why did Fergie opt for the rather odd Giggs/Jones midfield pairing with Fletcher seemingly nowhere to be seen?

Well, today, we probably have our answer.

As most people are aware, Fletcher has been battling what was described as a “viral illness” for much of the last year or more which led to him being sidelined just as he was probably enjoying the best form of his career but it has been confirmed by the club that Darren has actually been suffering from ulcerative colitis.

I’ll leave it to you to do your own research on the disease but it is a disease which can be managed into remission but stress can make the disease “flare up” which is obviously a problem for anyone in the highly pressurised atmosphere that is professional football – especially at a high profile club like Manchester United so it does look like we won’t be seeing Darren again very soon.

Which, of course, is a massive shame and I just hope he’s able to beat it as he has beaten the numerous other setbacks which have hindered his career down the years.

Get well soon, Darren.