How Manchester United Should Line Up Against Swansea

While the reverse leg played out in August resulted in an emphatic 4-0 victory for Manchester United at the Liberty Stadium, conditions and circumstances have changed, although Jose Mourinho will hope for a result as similar as possible to the first match.

FOLLOW | MANCHESTER UNITED VS SWANSEA LIVE

Currently, the Red Devils sit pretty at 2nd on the Premier League table, 2 points ahead of 3rd-placed Liverpool (with a game in hand), and 4 points ahead of 4th-placed Tottenham. A win tonight is bound to increase United’s comfort towards finishing the season positively.

On the other hand, Swansea find themselves occupying the 14th place on the table, and a defeat tonight could tip them back into the abyss that is the relegation dogfight.

Pre-match Presser

Both managers, Jose Mourinho and Carlos Carvalhal spoke about a number of facets ahead of the match. Here’s a quick look at some of what was said:

Carlos Carvalhal on Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho on Carlos Carvalhal

Jose Mourinho on Swansea and the threat they pose

Pre-match Stats

#1 Manchester United have won all three of their home Premier League games kicking off at 3 pm on a Saturday this season, scoring seven goals and conceding none.

#2 Romelu Lukaku - currently on 99 Premier League goals - has been directly involved in 14 goals in 14 games in all competitions so far in 2018 (10 goals, 4 assists).

#3 The Swans have avoided defeat in three of their last five visits to Old Trafford (W2 D1 L2) in all competitions, having lost eight of their first 10 games there against United.

#4 Jose Mourinho has never lost against Swansea in all competitions (P9 W7 D2 L0), defeating all four of the previous managers he’s faced (Laudrup, Monk, Bradley and Clement).

Team News

Manchester United

Jose Mourinho will be glad for the fact that Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, and Ander Herrera will return to the squad. On the other hand, Ashley Young is said to be ruled out after suffering an injury while on international duty with England.

Scottish 21-year-old, Scott McTominay is also expected to return after injuring himself during the international break. Daley Blind, though, is expected to stand no chance of making an appearance.

Swansea

Carlos Carvalhal will have quite a task on his hands as he will have to put together a side bereft of the services of Angel Rangel, Leroy Fer, Wilfried Bony and Renato Sanches, all of whom are sidelined by injuries.

Jordan Ayew will also be conspicuous with his absence as he’s currently serving a 3-match ban that will see him miss out on the Swans’ trip to Old Trafford.