Man United forced to take three-hour bus journey to Newcastle for Saturday night’s Premier League clash after their plane was grounded by icy weather at Manchester Airport

Manchester United‘s preparations for Saturday night’s Premier League fixture at Newcastle United were disrupted when their flight was cancelled.

Erik ten Hag‘s team were due to fly to the north-east from Manchester Airport at 11am on Saturday morning.

But when the players arrived at the airport to drop their cars off at 10am, they were told their flight was cancelled due to the weather and technical difficulties.

They will now make a three-hour journey by coach to St James’ Park for the 8pm kick-off. The flight time would have been around 30 minutes.

Pictures showed Ten Hag and his players boarding the bus with ice visible on the ground.

United players Victor Lindelof (left) and Marcus Rashford (right) pictured at the airport

Temperatures at Manchester Airport were barely above freezing on Saturday morning and are forecast to hover around -1C in Newcastle at kick-off as the United Kingdom is gripped by a cold snap.

Man United are looking to recover from the disappointment of Wednesday’s 3-3 draw with Galatasaray in Istanbul which left their Champions League last-16 hopes dangling by a thread.

But they are the form team in the Premier League, having won five of their last six matches to keep in touch with the top four.

Seventh-placed Newcastle are just a point behind Man United in sixth and have top four ambitions of their own.

They beat Ten Hag’s side 2-0 in the equivalent Premier League fixture last season and won 3-0 at Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup earlier in the current campaign.

The match is being played in the later Saturday slot because both teams were involved in Champions League action in midweek, with Newcastle drawing 1-1 away to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.

More to follow.