With the home side on the day victorious in eight of Newcastle’s last 11 PL matches – and United without defeat at home on Boxing Day in 47 years – this one looked to be there for the Red Devils’ taking.
Injury chaos inspired Ruben Amorim to change things up, but Patrick Dorgu was still one of the livelier United players as a makeshift right winger in the early stages.
Benjamin Sesko fired wide after receiving the Dane’s low cross, while Newcastle worked Senne Lammens for the first time when it went low towards the near post off a combination of Bruno Guimaraes and Casemiro.
Fellow Brazilian Matheus Cunha then struck powerfully from a tight angle to call Aaron Ramsdale into action, but the England international’s night wasn’t about to get any easier.
Nick Woltemade headed away the resulting throw, only for Dorgu to meet it in the centre of the area with a wonderful, left-footed volley which nestled into the bottom corner.
The remainder of the half was comparatively quiet, though the visitors did begin to grow into the game and looked particularly dangerous down their right-hand side.
Their ascendancy continued after the break, with Fabian Schar’s goalward effort deflected out by Dorgu.
That was followed by strikes against the crossbar at both ends, as Sesko and Lewis Hall were both just inches away from getting the contest’s second goal in their side’s favour.
Newcastle piled on even more pressure as the half progressed, but Anthony Gordon’s pulled shot showed that their end product was still lacking.
The United area was peppered with crosses and shots in the final exchanges, but Newcastle were unable to find the goal they needed to salvage a point.
As a result, the hosts moved provisionally into fifth place after just a third win from their last nine in the league.
Eddie Howe will have been disappointed with his side’s finishing in the second half, especially as they have now failed to trouble the scoresheet in six of their last 12 PL away outings.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Patrick Dorgu (Manchester United)
