Right, that’s it from me. Thanks for reading, and for your emails. Here’s the match report from Old Trafford. Night!
Ten Hag’s side are still in the hunt for European qualification on the final day after a tight win over rivals Newcastle
Wed 15 May 2024 17.24 EDT
First published on Wed 15 May 2024 14.00 EDT- Jamie Jackson's match report from Old Trafford
- Full-time: Manchester United 3-2 Newcastle
- Full-time: Brighton 1-2 Chelsea
- GOAL! Manchester United 3-2 Newcastle (Hall 90+2)
- GOAL! Manchester United 3-1 Newcastle (Hojlund 84)
- GOAL! Manchester United 2-1 Newcastle (Diallo 57)
- GOAL! Manchester United 1-1 Newcastle (Gordon 49)
- Half-time: Manchester United 1-0 Newcastle
- GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Newcastle (Mainoo 31)
- The teams!
- Preamble
Live feed
- Jamie Jackson's match report from Old Trafford
- Full-time: Manchester United 3-2 Newcastle
- Full-time: Brighton 1-2 Chelsea
- GOAL! Manchester United 3-2 Newcastle (Hall 90+2)
- GOAL! Manchester United 3-1 Newcastle (Hojlund 84)
- GOAL! Manchester United 2-1 Newcastle (Diallo 57)
- GOAL! Manchester United 1-1 Newcastle (Gordon 49)
- Half-time: Manchester United 1-0 Newcastle
- GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Newcastle (Mainoo 31)
- The teams!
- Preamble
Meanwhile, the WSL title race is going to go to the wire after Chelsea snuck a 1-0 win at Tottenham.
Here’s the table with one game to go.
Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Chelsea Women | 21 | 47 | 52 |
2 | Man City Women | 21 | 45 | 52 |
3 | Arsenal Women | 21 | 28 | 47 |
4 | Liverpool FC Women | 21 | 4 | 38 |
5 | Man Utd Women | 21 | 16 | 35 |
How will the title race be decided? There are many permutations, here they are:
If Man City win and Chelsea draw or lose then City win
If Chelsea win and Man City draw or lose then Chelsea win
If they both win it will be decided on goal difference
If they both draw Chelsea will win on goal difference
If they both lose it will be decided on goal difference
“You’d have to say young Mainoo is a wonderful prospect” emails Dean Kinsella. “Another commanding performance”.
Not sure I would call it commanding, but Mainoo was tidy enough, and got his goal. He certainly hasn’t done his Euros chances any harm. I think the teenager has to be on the plane.
Jamie Jackson's match report from Old Trafford
Ten Hag takes to the mic! He’s not a natural orator but walks to the middle of the Old Trafford pitch, and directly addresses the crowd with his players circled around him. Briefly there are more boos than cheers and it threatens to be an embarrassing moment for the Manchester United manager, but he seems to win the crowd over when his speech turns to the FA Cup final.
As we know it was not an easy season. But one thing has remained constant, your support! But the season is not over! We go to Brighton, to get three points, and then we go to Wembley! These players will give everything to bring the cup back to Old Trafford. Thank you, you are the best supporters in the world.
This is the table. Chelsea are in the box seat for sixth, and could even overhaul Tottenham on the final day and finish fifth.
Manchester United can still finish seventh but their goal difference means sixth is out of reach.
Newcastle can now only finish sixth if they win at Brentford and Chelsea lose at home to Bournemouth.
But here’s an important reminder from Alan Terlep.
“Sixth place will only qualify for the Europa League if Man City wins the FA Cup. If Manchester United wins the final, they take that Europa League place and sixth place goes to the Conference League”.
Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Man City | 37 | 60 | 88 |
2 | Arsenal | 37 | 61 | 86 |
3 | Liverpool | 37 | 43 | 79 |
4 | Aston Villa | 37 | 20 | 68 |
5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 37 | 10 | 63 |
6 | Chelsea | 37 | 13 | 60 |
7 | Newcastle | 37 | 21 | 57 |
8 | Man Utd | 37 | -3 | 57 |
9 | West Ham | 37 | -12 | 52 |
10 | Brighton | 37 | -5 | 48 |
11 | AFC Bournemouth | 37 | -12 | 48 |
12 | Crystal Palace | 37 | -6 | 46 |
13 | Wolverhampton | 37 | -13 | 46 |
14 | Fulham | 37 | -8 | 44 |
15 | Everton | 37 | -10 | 40 |
16 | Brentford | 37 | -7 | 39 |
17 | Nottm Forest | 37 | -19 | 29 |
18 | Luton | 37 | -31 | 26 |
19 | Burnley | 37 | -36 | 24 |
20 | Sheff Utd | 37 | -66 | 16 |
Full-time: Manchester United 3-2 Newcastle
It’s all over!
90+6 min: Newcastle pour forward but the crossing is dreadful and Manchester United break at pace. Hojlund and Rashford, both lightning quick, chase the ball, the former crossing for the latter, but Hall somehow gets back to intercept and clear the ball out for a corner. At least it’s at the right end for Manchester United.
90+4 min: Manchester United are doing a decent job of seeing this out. Newcastle can’t seem to create an opening.
Full-time: Brighton 1-2 Chelsea
A great night for the Blues with Newcastle currently losing, even if Danny Welbeck did make it nervy for Chelsea with a 97th-minute goal. However, Reece James was shown a red card in the closing minutes, and will be suspended for the season’s final game at home to Bournemouth. The right back has only just returned from injury, will that harm his chances of going to the Euros? Southgate has barely seen anything from him!
GOAL! Manchester United 3-2 Newcastle (Hall 90+2)
Another screamer! From a Newcastle corner, the ball comes out to Hall on the edge of the area. The left back takes a touch and buries his shot into the far corner. What a hit, son! Game on. Newcastle have around four or five minutes to find an equaliser!
90 min: Six minutes added on here. Bruno Fernandes comes on for Eriksen. The Portuguese has been the game’s best player.
87 min: Amrabat booked for bringing down Barnes. Yellow card, which is slightly harsh.
86 min: I really don’t think Nick Pope would have let that in. Dubravka is a decent keeper, but I think could have doe better for Manchester United’s first and third goals tonight.
GOAL! Manchester United 3-1 Newcastle (Hojlund 84)
Hojlund scores almost with his first touch. Newcastle are slow to retreat as Fernandes canters forward. The Portuguese finds Hojlund with a pass. The Dane holds off two Newcastle defenders, fires a shot through the legs of Hall and beats Dubravka at the far post! Game over?
83 min: Manchester United make a triple change. They are in need of some fresh legs, with Newcastle dominating the ball. Rasmus Hojlund, Lisandro Martinez and Marcus Rashford come on for Alejandro Garnacho and the goalscorers Amad Diallo and Kobbie Mainoo. This is Rashford’s 400th appearance for Manchester United.
82 min: Yellow card for Diallo for kicking the ball away after a foul.
81 min: A rare lull in this game, so time for me to tell you that Celtic have been crowned as champions of Scotland once more.
79 min: Schar penalised for coming through the back of Fernandes. A deserved booking.
78 min: Newcastle make their fourth change: Barnes on for Longstaff. That means Gordon will switch from the left wing to central striker.
76 min: “Schalke legend Klaus Fischer made the bicycle kick something of a specialty, but he peaked with a goal which has a claim to being the best goal that never was,” emails Kári Tulinius. “Rainer Bonhof set him up beautifully with the outside of his boot and Fischer did the assist justice. Unfortunately, Scottish referee John Gordon deemed his foot to be too close to a Soviet defender Sergei Prigoda’s head, so it was chalked off.”
74 min: Dubravka fumbles a back-pass and gives away a sloppy corner, from which Casemiro heads wide!
72 min: Newcastle so close to an equaliser! Gordon again finds space in Manchester United’s area, beats Casemiro down the outside and shoots with his left towards the far corner. The ball beats Onana, beats Almiron sliding in and beats the far post. Inches wide of all three.
70 min: Casemiro catches Isak with a clumsy leg. Remember the Manchester United man has already been booked. It probably wasn’t a yellow, but it wasn’t far off.
67 min: From the resulting corner, Manchester United counter-attack at speed, before Gordon pulls Diallo down to the turf. Yellow card.
66 min: Newcastle hit the bar! A cross comes in from the right, Joelinton rises highest at the back post but the Brazilian can’t direct it on target. The ball hits the top of the bar and goes over! Most inside Old Trafford, apparently including the referee, think Onana has saved it, but I’m pretty sure that was just woodwork. Still, it’s a corner.
64 min: Fernandes, easily the best player on the pitch, somehow wiggles away from Gordon and Hall, and unleashes a thunderous effort that flies just over the Newcastle bar. Dubravka was in trouble if that was on target.
62 min: Triple change for Newcastle: Joelinton, Miguel Almiron and Fabian Schar for Jacob Murphy, Kieran Trippier and the booked Elliot Anderson.
Looks like Gordon has run off that injury he was struggling with earlier.
GOAL! Brighton 0-2 Chelsea (Nkunku 64)
Another goal at the Amex! Chelsea are up to sixth with that score. Here’s the live table. If scores stay as they are, they will need just a draw against Bournemouth on Sunday to secure Europa League football. A remarkable effort from where they were earlier in the season.
Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Man City | 37 | 60 | 88 |
2 | Arsenal | 37 | 61 | 86 |
3 | Liverpool | 37 | 43 | 79 |
4 | Aston Villa | 37 | 20 | 68 |
5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 37 | 10 | 63 |
6 | Chelsea | 37 | 14 | 60 |
7 | Newcastle | 37 | 21 | 57 |
8 | Man Utd | 37 | -3 | 57 |
9 | West Ham | 37 | -12 | 52 |
10 | Brighton | 37 | -6 | 48 |
11 | AFC Bournemouth | 37 | -12 | 48 |
12 | Crystal Palace | 37 | -6 | 46 |
13 | Wolverhampton | 37 | -13 | 46 |
14 | Fulham | 37 | -8 | 44 |
15 | Everton | 37 | -10 | 40 |
16 | Brentford | 37 | -7 | 39 |
17 | Nottm Forest | 37 | -19 | 29 |
18 | Luton | 37 | -31 | 26 |
19 | Burnley | 37 | -36 | 24 |
20 | Sheff Utd | 37 | -66 | 16 |
59 min: The sort of shot you’d like to get the speed-o-meter out for.
Apparently, this is the fastest ever shot recorded: Ronny Heberson vs Associação Naval 1º de Maio, 2006 (131.8 miles per hour).
GOAL! Manchester United 2-1 Newcastle (Diallo 57)
Diallo’s first Premier League goal, and it’s an absolute rip-snorter! The Ivorian has been lurking on the edge of the area for corners all night, and another reaches him here. Diallo absolutely leathers his shot first time, the ball flies through a sea of bodies and past the right hand of Dubravka. It was past the Slovakian in a flash! Great goal!
55 min: Gordon has got a problem, he’s limping. It may be related to the penalty incident in the first half. Not good, with the Euros looming (England assistant Steve Holland is here, by the way).
53 min: How are Newcastle not ahead?! From a Manchester United corner, the ball comes out as far as Wan-Bissaka, who mis-controls the ball. Suddenly Newcastle are away, and they have three on one! Gordon, Isak and Longstaff canter into Manchester United’s half with only Amrabat for company. Can Gordon draw the defender and pick the right pass? He passes to Isak, who looks clean through on goal, but Amrabat somehow recovers to make a sensational block: the ball looping up over Onana and onto the top of the crossbar for a corner. How did Manchester United get away with that?!
51 min: Murphy has quietly had a very impressive second half to the season for Newcastle. The winger’s crossing has been brilliant these last few months.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-1 Newcastle (Gordon 49)
That was coming. Amrabat fumbles possession in the middle of the park, Murphy whips a devilish early cross into the area and Gordon beats the offside trap and finishes nicely past Onana! Simple!
48 min: Two early chances for Newcastle, a very sloppy start for Manchester United! Guimaraes gets some space from the edge of the area, but a deflected shot is saved by Onana. Then Gordon is left one-on-one in the area, but Casemiro makes another crucial block! Wow!
Peeeeep! The second half begins.
This was the penalty incident, by the way. It’s a clear foul, so much so that Gordon played the rest of the half with a huge hole in the back of his sock, where Amrabat caught him. Not giving a penalty is forgivable in real time, such was the speed of the incident, but Newcastle will be fuming that this wasn’t picked up by VAR, who have the benefit of many angles and slow-motion. On the day that VAR is being debated, this feels pertinent.
This video was taken before tonight’s game: Rashford clashing with home fans.
Half-time reading below. I’m off for a cuppa.
Half-time: Manchester United 1-0 Newcastle
A thumping tackle from Amrabat ends the half.
45+2 min: Manchester United work a short corner, from which Diallo plays a neat one-two to somehow engineer some space inside Newcastle’s six-yard box, but Murphy makes a brilliant last-ditch tackle to deny the Ivorian. Old Trafford groans, they wanted their winger to pull the trigger.
45 min: Three minutes added on here. This has been a very even first half.
42 min: Newcastle really pushing for this equaliser, with Gordon the creator in chief. Trippier is also playing really high and putting in some dangerous crosses. One comes from a corner, where Guimaraes is completely unmarked at the back post! The Brazilian watches it all the way, and heads inexplicably five yards wide!
40 min: Casemiro is going to be OK. He’s kept Manchester United in the game this first half!
39 min: A nasty fall for Casemiro, who is really in the thick of the action tonight. He falls badly on his coccyx and looks like he might need to go off. Ouch.
37 min: Yellow card for Anderson, who trips McTominay.
Having a look a the replay for that challenge on Gordon. Casemiro’s tackle was clean, but there was clear contact by the retreating Amrabat on Gordon! Was harder to see because there were effectively two tackles in a millisecond, but the Moroccan’s tackle was definitely a foul.