Manchester United vs. Newcastle: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview

Boxing Day football always makes for a merry addition to the Premier League schedule and Newcastle United have the slightly unwelcome honour of a trip to face Manchester United following their Christmas celebrations.

Alan Pardew's side took a 1-0 victory from their trip to Old Trafford last December, but the Magpies are in a different vein of form to the team that recorded that triumph just over 12 months ago.

Louis van Gaal has turned the Red Devils into a different outfit, too, making for a transformed tale of the tape coming into Friday's fixture.

Read on for a breakdown of the vital viewing information and a preview of the Boxing Day encounter.

Date: Friday, December 26 

Time: 3 p.m. GMT/10 a.m. ET

Live Stream: BT Sport stream (UK) NBC Sports Live Extra (US)

TV Info: BT Sport 1 (UK), NBC Sports Network (US)

Red Devils Rising, Magpies Losing Their Glide

Jon Super/Associated Press

A 1-1 draw away to Aston Villa may have brought an end to Manchester United's six-match winning spree, but the Red Devils are an improving project all the same, having lost only one of their last 10 games.

Following that result, Van Gaal was eager to distance his side from any notion of a title challenge, per BBC Sport, but it's difficult to reject the idea that United are getting more used to winning ways:

"

When you want to be a part of the title race, you have to win these games. I saw Manchester City's first half against Crystal Palace, they struggled but 3-0, that is the difference. We dropped two points. We were the better team and that's frustrating when you're the better team and you don't win these kind of games.

"

Nevertheless, the Dutchman has his positives to take from the draw in Birmingham, Radamel Falcao's return to the scoresheet being one of them.

Newcastle, on the other hand, are a team in decline of late and Pardew was forced to watch as his side conceded a 90th-minute decider to Sunderland at home this past Sunday.

The Magpies have now lost their last three games across all competitions, with the manager forced to admit the occasion got to his players in their latest derby defeat, per the official Premier League Twitter account:

Derby circumstances can often make for difficult opponents, but travelling to a United side which has scored at least two goals in each of their last three home games doesn't make for an easy transition.

Given the current form the two sides are in, United will feel all the more upbeat about their chances of handing Newcastle a fourth successive loss.

Key Battle

Ashley Young vs. Daryl Janmaat

It wasn't long ago that it would have been found laughable to see the outcast Ashley Young as a key player in any Red Devils fixture but a tactical transition to left wing-back has breathed fresh life into the playmaker's Old Trafford career.

Van Gaal evidently sees the Englishman as a happy alternative in a more defensively responsible role, with NBC commentator Arlo White among those impressed with his adaptation:

Daryl Janmaat is another relatively pleasant improvement for his team, having come into the Newcastle hierarchy this season after Mathieu Debuchy's departure for Arsenal and giving Pardew a smooth changing of the guard.

As Squawka details, though, the Dutchman, along with the rest of his defensive line, were far from up to scratch in repelling Sunderland's advances last weekend:

Van Gaal will be well-informed on what it is Janmaat offers the Magpies, having mentored the former Feyenoord figure through much of his Netherlands development.

One can bet Young will receive some advice on how best to manoeuvre his way around the Newcastle right-back and continue to offer a hand in attack, with Janmaat under pressure to restrain one of the hosts' in-form stars.