Alan Pardew believes Manchester United under Louis van Gaal are a different proposition from the David Moyes side beaten by Newcastle last December.

The Magpies broke a 41-year winless run at Old Trafford when Yohan Cabaye scored the only goal 12 months ago.

That defeat left United ninth and Moyes under increasing pressure.

Louis van Gaal (right) has restored order at Manchester Unted, says Alan Pardew

Pardew takes his Newcastle troops to Manchester looking for back-to-back wins at Old Trafford

Yohan Cabaye hit the winner last time out, but the Frenchman swapped Tyneside for Paris in summer

Pardew, though, believes Van Gaal’s presence has brought security to the club as well as the team.

‘You can sense a difference between last year and this year,’ said the Newcastle manager. ‘Last year they didn’t seem that secure around David. But they’ve definitely got it this year. There’s a bit more stability with the manager. There was a lot of unstable reporting and messages coming out of there last year and for David that wasn’t working.

‘Van Gaal has had more patience and more time, and more assurance about what’s going on from above. That makes them look as though more good news is going to be arriving than bad.

‘I think the board have made a statement that Van Gaal’s the man and he’s made it very clear he’s their man too.

‘Put that together and they’ve got a great base for those great players, those great strikers.

‘He’s had terrible injuries, like ourselves, but they’ve got a great chance of getting back in the Champions League and that’s what I think they’re pushing for.’

Newcastle will again start with 21-year-old goalkeeper Jak Alnwick. And that, says Pardew, is a stark contrast to United’s David de Gea, who he believes is challenging Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer as the world’s No 1 between the posts.

Following his dream debut against Chelsea, Jak Alnwick has found life tougher between the sticks

David De Gea has been a rock at the last line of defence for United, pulling off a string of sensational saves

‘There’s such a contrast in goal at the moment — Jak is on his third Premier League start and De Gea is pushing Neuer for the title of being the best goalkeeper in the world,’ he said.

‘He’s a fantastic shot-stopper. He still has parts of his game that he wishes to develop, but in one-on-one situations he excels.

‘He covers a lot of the areas goalscorers want to score in by doing so with his feet and his hands.

‘He makes it very difficult to score, so you have to go with power and go for the corners.’

Newcastle, meanwhile, are on the back of three straight defeats and they last won when upsetting League leaders Chelsea 2-1 on December 6. But Pardew (below) is refusing to panic.

‘Against the top teams we’ve done well, we’re ninth in the division and we’re not far away from the top,’ he said.

‘If we get a win today it’s then Everton and Burnley at home and it could put us in a great position. So it’s all to play for. I do think this team is stable, it’s a strong middle-of-the-Premier League team and we need to be better than that if we can.