Manchester United25' J.Evans58' P.Evra71' R.van Persie90' J.Hernández4 - 3
FinishedNewcastle United4' J.Perch29' J.Evans(o.g.)68' P.Cissé

De Gea completely misjudges a high ball and punches awkwardly behind for a corner to Newcastke.

Newcastle change: On comes Shola Ameobi, who scored the winner against QPR. Demba Ba is the man who makes way.

GOAL!! THREE-ALL!! VAN PERSIE!! His first shot is parried by Krul, but the rebound finds its way to the feet of the Dutchman and he makes no mistake at the second time of asking, finding the bottom right corner!

Here comes Tom Cleverley for Paul Scholes, who has not enjoyed his finest game today.

That is only Cisse's fifth goal of the season, but what a massive one it could prove to be for both sides here. Fantastic entertainment at Old Trafford.

GOAL!! PAPISS CISSE!! Amazing! Newcastle are back in front! Obertan pulls backs from the left byline and Cisse smacks it in left-footed from 10 yards!

Evra now has four Premier League goals this season, the joint most of any defender (equal with Ivanovic).

First change of the afternoon, as former Old Trafford, ahem, 'hero' Gabriel Obertan comes on for the visitors.

Oh, that's a crass foul by Papiss Cisse, in late on Evra and that's a clear yellow card.

Santon delivers a long throw into the Manchester United box... it's not convincing defending, but they eventually get rid of it.

Williamson heads the ball down and Ba nearly latches on to it, but the ball rolls through to De Gea.

Newcastle free-kick after a foul by Giggs, who has been off the pace in midfield.

Evans is complaining after he disappears down one of those steep banks around the Old Trafford pitch, helped on his way by Danny Simpson. Yellow card Simpson.

That's two in two games for the Frenchman, who has made a real captain's contribution for his struggling side today.

GOAL!! EVRA equalises!! He fires through a crowd of players at the edge of the box and finds the bottom-right corner! Manchester United on terms, 2-2!

Evans tries a Beckenbauer-esque through ball but it skips harmlessly through to Krul. Manchester United struggling here. Tom Cleverley their only genuine semi-attacking option on the bench.

Lovely interplay as Hernandez dummies for Van Persie, but there is an offside flag up against the Mexican.

Giggs slides a nice ball into the box for Hernandez who is blocked off by Coloccini and sprawls to the turf. No foul.

Valencia slides in in a cloud of spray and picks up a yellow card for a loose challenge.

De Gea punches rather unconvincingly from the corner, but United eventually get it away.

Cisse crosses from the right for Ba, whose header is touched behind for a Newcastle corner!

Here's a worrying omen for Manchester United fans from Infostrada: "Manchester United have lost their last five PL matches at Old Trafford when losing at half time."

No personnel changes from either manager at the break, incidentally. With Rooney, Young and Welbeck at home, Manchester don't have much in reserve.

A half-chance as Van Persie meets a cross from the left at an awkward height and the ball goes out for a goal kick.

Play is under way, and as angry as Ferguson may be, he could equally focus on his team's lacklustre display.

Out come the teams, and Alex Ferguson is raging at referee Mike Dean and his assistant.

Controversy at half-time over Newcastle's second goal - and yet again Manchester United must come back from a goal down.

Manchester look to build one last attack as it is lumped towards Van Persie at the edge of the box... Newcastle clear and that will be half-time.

Two minutes of added time to be played...

Another hefty challenge on the wet turf as Smalling upends Coloccini - no booking.

Van Persie strikes the free-kick well wide from long range.

Some old school Giggs as he turns on the burners and drives through the centre of the pitch - Williamson upends him, it's a yellow card and free-kick.

Hernandez comes forward 35 yards out and tries to pick out Valencia on the right, but he curls the ball out for a goal kick.

This first half has just whizzed by, and we are only five minutes from the break. A cracking game here.

Off the bar!! Marveaux strikes the free-kick, De Gea does not move and the ball clangs back off the woodwork!

Hernandez trips the sprinting Marveaux as he charges towards the edge of the box. Yellow card and a dangerous chance for Newcastle.

Evra heads across the face of goal from the left side, but he has been (correctly) flagged offside.

Evans is adjudged to have impeded Cisse and it's a yellow card for the defender. Possibly for dissent, that one.

Santon cuts inside and fires a right-foot shot that De Gea does well to hold on to.

Anyway, on we go. Again, by the letter of the law the officials look to have got it right.

That goal shows the silliness of the 'interfering' definition. Cisse did not touch it, but Evans was marking him and would not have touched the ball had the striker not been there - so how could Ba not have been interfering?

So just to recap - Simpson shot from long range on the right, the ball came off Evans and went in. Initially Cisse was flagged offside but as he did not touch the ball the goal was given. By the letter of the law that looks a good decision but no doubt Fergie will be raging.

GOAL!! The goal has been awarded after Dean gets the word from his linesman - the offside was given against Cisse - who was in an offside position and being marked by Evans, but did not touch the ball. Therefore he was not strictly offside.

Mayhem here!! Jonny Evans scores an own goal but it is chalked off for an offside against Cisse... hang on though, Mike Dean is still consulting with his officials.

Van Persie beats his man brilliantly before slipping a ball to the overlapping Evra who runs into Simpson. He wants a penalty but Mike Dean is having none of it.

Ba gets goalside of Smalling and unleashes a shot from the left side of the box, but it flashes wide.

GOAL! And there's the equaliser! It's a scrappy one from Jonny Evans! Van Persie swung a free-kick into the box, Newcastle failed to clear, Hernandez saw his shot saved and Evans pounced on the rebound!

This is much better from the home side, though. They have got Newcastle pinned right back and the crowd are getting into it.

Manchester have a penalty appeal turned down for an alleged handball inside the Newcastle box. Didn't look very convincing.

Another Infostrada stat: : This is only the fourth time Manchester United have conceded the opening PL goal in a match on Boxing Day. They have never come back to win – 1 defeat and 2 draws.

Down goes Chicharito after an aerial challenge by Williamson. Could have killed h... OK, I'll stop.

De Gea alert to pluck the ball out of the air on the Manchester line. The Premier League leaders really under pressure here.

Ba hits a fierce left-foot shot at the edge of the box which is headed clear by Ferdinand.

Back at Old Trafford, there's not much going on here except a lot of raining. Manchester yet to hit their stride - and not for the first time this season.

A footnote to that Berbatov goal - he was booked for revealing a 'Keep Calm and Pass Me The Ball' t-shirt. I'd have given him a yellow just for the lame joke.

The TV cameras have picked out Wayne Rooney in a box somewhere in Old Trafford. He doesn't look very happy. Mind you, his team are losing...

Scholes plays a beautiful ball for Valencia on the right side of the box but the winger cannot keep it in.

Hernandez plays it to Carrick and makes a run into the box... Carrick cannot pick him out with the return pass.

Also this: Manchester United conceded the opening goal in a PL match for the 11th time this season. They have come back to win in seven of the previous 10.

Perch’s goal was the seventh total goal scored in the opening 15 minutes of PL matches at Old Trafford this season – more than at any other stadium during this period. (Thanks to Infostrada for that one)

There's a former Manchester United player on the scoresheet at Craven Cottage:

Newcastle completely on top here - Santon inside from the right to Bigirimana who is dispossessed inside the box.

It is a rainy afternoon in Manchester, and the slick surface just took that through ball out of the strikers' reach.

Bigirimana lofts a ball over the top that Cisse and Ba both chase, but neither can keep it in.

That's James Perch's first goal for Newcastle and a simple finish. But a real error by De Gea to push the ball into his path. It was not a venomous shot from Ba.

GOAL! Ba takes a long shot that looks pretty innocuous and De Gea can only palm it into the path of James Perch who slots into the empty net! Newcastle lead!

Van Persie looks up and plays a Beckham-esque raking, diagonal ball... but there is nobody on the end of it and the ball bounces rather sadly out for a Newcastle goal kick.

Early chance for Newcastle as a misjudged defensive header loops up and drops to Ba who takes a swing and a miss left-footed!

For the sake of clarity, I'm going to call Manchester United 'Manchester' today. Apologies if this sounds awkward in a Spanish sort of 'El Manchester' way.

And off we go! Manchester United kick off, playing from right to left as we see it. Newcastle in fluorescent yellow shirts.

According to United, Wayne Rooney picked up an injury in training yesterday, as did Ashley Young. Danny Welbeck was apparently taken ill overnight. I'll do my best not to put inverted commas round any of that.

And time for a quick peruse of the table - United four points clear, with Newcastle edging away from trouble thanks to their win against QPR.

This is one of seven games kicking off at 3pm - you can follow them all in our score centre.

Of course, Fergie is raging because of the football in the head that could have killed Robin van Persie on Sunday.

Alan Pardew has promised plenty of anger in the dugouts when these teams go head-to-head.

Here's an interesting stat from Opta, given Wayne Rooney's omission: Rooney has scored 10 Premier League goals against Newcastle, his joint-highest tally against any opponent.

Robin van Persie, however, is definitely not dead and he starts up front alongside Javier Hernandez while Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs both play in midfield. Newcastle make two changes from the side that beat QPR last weekend - they bring in Marveaux and Bigirimana for Tiote and Gutierrez.

Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of Manchester United versus Newcastle United. No doubt about the big team news - Wayne Rooney has been left out of the Manchester United squad altogether.

MANCHESTER UNITED: De Gea; Smalling, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra (c); Valencia, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs; Van Persie, Hernandez..SUBS: Lindegaard, Vidic, Wootton, Buttner, Tunnicliffe, Fletcher, Cleverley. /// NEWCASTLE: Krul; Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini (c), Santon; Anita, Perch, Bigirimana; Cisse, Ba, Marveaux. SUBS: Elliot, Tavernier, Ferguson, Obertan, Sammy Ameobi, Campbell, Shola Ameobi.