Newcastle United versus Sheffield United - James Shield's Tale of the Tape

The Star’s Bramall Lane correspondent James Shield analyses some of the facts and statistics surrounding this game and takes a look at the key figures expected to be involved.

The Possible Teams: Newcastle - Dubravka, Lascelles, Fernandez, Manquillo, Rose, Saint-Maximin, Hayden, Joelinton, Bentaleb, Shelvey, Almiron.

Sheffield United - Henderson, Robinson, Egan, Basham, Stevens, Baldock, Norwood, Berge, Lundstram, McGoldrick, Sharp.

The Referee: David Coote, who is based in Nottinghamshire, is scheduled to take charge of this match, assisted by Gary Beswick and Nick Hopton. Darren England has been selected to be the fourth official while Peter Bankes and Harry Lennard will oversee VAR. Coote, who averages 3.86 cautions per game since August, has overseen four fixtures involving United during the present campaign. He booked four players during the win over Crystal Palace, four and six during the draws with West Ham and Wolves and three when Watford gained a point at Bramall Lane.

The Last Time Out: Like United’s game against Aston Villa on Wednesday, Newcastle’s 2-0 win over Chris Wilder’s side six months ago was dominated by a controversy surrounding the use of technology. Having edged in front through Allan Saint-Maximin, Steve Bruce’s side doubled their lead when Jonjo Shelvey found himself through on goal after Andy Carroll had been flagged for offside. United’s players stopped and Dean Henderson, clearly expecting the effort to be ruled-out, made only a half-hearted attempt to prevent Shelvey from scoring. But the referee Stuart Attwell had waved the action on and, following a VAR review, the strike was allowed to stand.

The History Lesson: United have won 49 of their previous 124 competitive encounters with Newcastle, compared to 46 wins for the hosts. United’s last win in this corner of the North-East came in 2006, when Danny Webber scored the only goal of the game when the two clubs last met in the top-flight at St James’ Park. However, Newcastle’s victory in South Yorkshire earlier this season was that third straight success over United since then.

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Stay safe and take care. Thank you. James.