Manchester United to do Newcastle United a favour – Hear me out | OneFootball

Manchester United are set to do Newcastle United a favour.

Now hear me out…

Last Thursday night saw Manchester United and Spurs get through to the Europa League final on Wednesday 21 May.

For me, this was great news.

Yes, I know that this guarantees that one of these failing clubs will now fluke Champions League qualification BUT I am only concerned with Newcastle United’s Champions League qualification.

It wasn’t like I was punching the air last Thursday when I saw the goals going in at the respective Man U and Spurs matches AND I would usually be desperate to see them (and all the other usual suspects) lose every single European match. However, there was an extra Newcastle United angle to all this.

As we all know, the situation with now only two rounds of matches to go in the Premier League, is that Aston Villa, Chelsea, Manchester City, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest are fighting over the remaining three Champions League places.

Now I have every confidence that Newcastle United will end up top five.

However, it does no harm to have as many extra safety nets as possible.

The recent Premier League form of Manchester United and Spurs is appalling, indeed it goes back a lot further than just recent. That is why the pair of them are fighting it out with West Ham to see who can finish fourth bottom.

In their last 20 Premier League matches, Manchester United have won just four of them, lost eleven and drawn five. Those only four PL wins in the last five months since mid-December 2024 have been against the three relegated clubs and they fluked a 1-0 win at Fulham.

Whilst for Spurs, their last 24 Premier League matches have seen only five wins, with fifteen defeats and four draws. Their five wins since November 2024 have seen three of them against relegated teams (including two wins over rock bottom Southampton), fluking an away win at Brentford, plus beating…Manchester United!

So in a combined 44 matches, Manchester United and Spurs have managed only one win each against a team who hasn’t been relegated, or against each other.

To say that Spurs and Manchester United have been appalling in the Premier League these past five months would be the understatement of all time.

If Manchester United and/or Spurs had been knocked out of the Europa League last week, I would have given them less than zero chance of providing any kind of reasonable opposition in any remaining game this season.

Which brings me to Newcastle United and safety nets.

Manchester United and Spurs have such an important six days to get themselves into the best possible mental and physical shape to do what they have both found so very difficult for almost half a year, which is to beat Premier League opposition.

Spurs were home to Palace on Sunday and Man U home to West Ham, I couldn’t see either of the Europa League finalists throwing much at those matches AND I wasn’t proved wrong!

Absolutely feeble 2-0 home defeats for both. On top of their usual woefulness, both teams were sure to be looking after their players following their semi-final wins only three days earlier.

However, I think that now that is out the way, both Manchester United and Spurs will be full on in their preparations for Bilbao on 21 May 2025.

The last thing they will want to do is go into that final having been humiliated in their final warm up game.

Instead, I think they will both be playing their first choice teams tomorrow (Friday) night, as a dress rehearsal for the Europa League final only five days later.

Newcastle United have Arsenal away on Sunday (18 May) but in advance of that we have:

Friday 16 May

Villa v Spurs (7.30pm)

Chelsea v Man U (8.15pm)

I reckon it would have been a foregone conclusion that both Villa and Chelsea would have won these two matches AND probably seriously improved their goal differences, if up against teams who had failed to reach this Europa League final.

Now though, I do have a definite strange feeling that Manchester United for sure will not lose to Chelsea. I also have a (smaller) strange feeling that Spurs won’t win either.

You can all ridicule me late on Friday night and so on BUT mark my words, Ruben Amorim and his useless not trying Manchester United team are going to do Newcastle United a favour.

Both managers (of Spurs and Manchester United) will want confidence boosters and their players playing for the places in the Europa League final, with the prize also of Champions League football next season.

(There is also Forest away at West Ham on Sunday before the Newcastle match, I reckon every chance now of the Hammers taking something off them as well. In their last seven matches in all competitions, Forest have won only one of the seven and that was against…Spurs!)

The five competing Premier League clubs, their respective current positions (as at Thursday 15 May 2025) and their collective remaining 9 matches in the Champions League chase:

Newcastle United 66 points GD +23

Arsenal (A), Everton (H)

Man City 65 points GD +24

Bournemouth (H), Fulham (A)

Chelsea 63 points GD +19