Manchester United will face Newcastle United without both club captain Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte, adding to their woes ahead of the upcoming meeting.
Manuel Ugarte and Bruno Fernandes will be unavailable to face Newcastle at Old Trafford on Monday #mufc
— Steven Railston (@StevenRailston) December 26, 2024
United suffered a third consecutive defeat across all competitions on Thursday evening at the hands of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Goals from Matheus Cunha and Hwang Hee-chan condemned United to a 2-0 loss at Molineux.
For almost the entire second half, the Red Devils were reduced to 10 men after Fernandes was shown a red card for a second bookable offence.
That was the third time this season that the Portugal international has been given his marching orders. After the final whistle, Ruben Amorim spoke to reporters and admitted that he has been left frustrated by the incidents.
Amorim will also not be able to call on the services of Ugarte, who picked up his fifth yellow card of the league season in the game against Wolves.
Ugarte was booked in the second half for bringing down Goncalo Guedes as Wolves looked to break. Moments later, the Uruguayan was taken off and replaced by Christian Eriksen.
Despite United’s struggles on the pitch over the past few weeks, Ugarte has performed at a consistently good level and he will be sorely missed when the Magpies make their way to Old Trafford.
With Fernandes and Ugarte both out, Amorim’s midfield options are very limited, with Kobbie Mainoo, Casemiro and Christian Eriksen likely to get the nod in the middle of the park.
Casemiro and Eriksen came on as substitutes vs. Wolves and tried to make things happen albeit unsuccessfully.
Mainoo started the game but didn’t really have the best of games.
United take on Eddie Howe’s men on Monday. Kick-off is at 20:00 GMT.
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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Derick Kinoti
Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
