Swansea City v Manchester United: Match preview
Manchester United journey to south Wales this weekend to face a Swansea side struggling of late. Without a home win since the New Year, Gary Monk will be hoping that the returning Gylfi Sigurdsson can reproduce his heroics from the first game of the season where his astute performance almost singlehandedly crushed the Red Devils 2-1 at Old Trafford.
A lot has changed, however, since van Gaal’s first league game in charge; after parting company with top goal-scorer Wilfried Bony – who departed to title hopefuls Manchester City in January – Monk’s side lie in ninth position having lost three of their last five league matches. The returning Sigurdsson – who has completed a three match ban – may cause the defensively fragile United side some problems, although his performances have taken a noticeable knock with the Icelander failing to record a goal or an assist in any of his last three outings.
As for United, the comeback at Preston extended their unbeaten run on the road to ten games with the 1-0 home defeat to Southampton the only dent in a string of 19 games. The game at Deepdale did, however, raise many questions regarding van Gaal’s strongest 11 with the replacement of Radamel Falcao with Ashley Young on the hour mark seemingly invigorating a static, insipid Manchester United display. The Colombian has struggled greatly with reproducing his form of previous years and it is becoming increasingly likely that he will not return to Old Trafford once his loan expires in the summer. Oppositely, Wayne Rooney reminded the manager about his competence in leading the line with the sort of creative display that should make the Dutchman reassess the pairing of Falcao and Van Persie.
There is very little in the way of injuries for either side as Swansea’s Kyle Bartley and United’s Michael Carrick make up the entire injury list as Robin Van Persie is set to make his return; there is a possibility that Phil Jones will be rested with an ankle injury.
Van Gaal will be hoping that his side can overcome the problems faced in the 2-1 defeat in the encounter earlier this season as they look to add another 3 points to their boastful record at the Liberty Stadium.