Ruben Amorim is about to get the Manchester United luxury he has been waiting for

Manchester United will bring the curtain down on what has been a relentless December when they welcome Newcastle United to Old Trafford this evening.

The visit of Eddie Howe's team will mark United's ninth and final outing of what has been a demanding and draining month on both the players and Ruben Amorim. United started the month by recording their first Premier League win of the Amorim era, beating Everton 4-0, but they have only recorded one league triumph since - the dramatic 2-1 win over Manchester City in the derby at the Etihad Stadium.

Since that victory over their neighbours, United have lost successive league matches to Bournemouth and Wolves, while as a result of Europa League participation and progression to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, United have not had a free midweek outside of the international breaks since August.

It has meant Amorim has barely had any time on the training pitch with the squad he inherited from Erik ten Hag. The Portuguese chief arrived in England on November 11 and time on the training ground between matches has been extremely limited, with recovery sessions often taking priority between games.

The lack of training time has been highlighted, more so to those who cover United, by the fact the club has only published training images twice since Amorim's arrival - and on one of those occasions it was when the media was allowed to watch training ahead of a Europa League fixture. It has not been uncommon for training images to have been published on a weekly basis in the past.

United, following tonight's tussle with Newcastle, are not in action again until Sunday - facing Liverpool at Anfield - before not playing again until the following Sunday against Arsenal in the FA Cup third