Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho will be full of confidence ahead of the trip to face Swansea City.
Manchester United travel to the Liberty Stadium to face Swansea City in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, in a game that use to be a banana-skin game for the visitors in the past.
United previously struggled at the Liberty Stadium and seldom came away with a win. But the Red Devils are likely to comfortably dispatch of their Welsh opposition this weekend. Here’s why…
Manchester United have finally ended the curse against Swansea City
Ahead of Saturday lunchtime’s Premier League clash at the Liberty Stadium, Manchester United are coming off the back of a much more convincing head-to-head record. This wasn’t the case between 2014 and 2015, however, with City boasting four wins in five meetings in all competitions.
Swansea’s ‘curse’ over Man Utd (2014-2015)
30/8/15 (Premier League) Swansea City 2-1 Manchester United
21/2/15 (Premier League) Swansea City 2-1 Manchester United
16/8/14 (Premier League) Manchester United 1-2 Swansea City
11/1/14 (Premier League) Manchester United 2-0 Swansea City
5/1/14 (FA Cup) Manchester United 1-2 Swansea City
Jose Mourinho’s side have enjoyed three consecutive Premier League wins over Swansea City since and will go into this weekend’s encounter full of confidence as a result.
Swansea City and Manchester United head-to-head
30/4/17 (Premier League) Manchester United 1-1 Swansea City
6/11/16 (Premier League) Swansea City 1-3 Manchester United
2/1/16 (Premier League) Manchester United 2-1 Swansea City
Swansea might struggle for goals this season
After recently selling chief scorer and creator Gylfi Sigurdsson, Swansea could find themselves in real trouble. The Icelandic international was at the centre of everything good about Swansea after his arrival at the Liberty Stadium, and the club could suffer greatly in his absence.
Sigurdsson scored and created 49% of Swansea’s Premier League goals last season, and now the side face a strong Manchester United defence with a blunted attack. Swansea played out a goalless draw in their opening game of the new season and may struggle to breach the United backline this weekend too.
With new chief playmaker capable of threading defence-splitting through balls into the forwards, Swansea’s attacks may be too predictable and easy to defend against. Manchester United under Mourinho kept an impressive 17 clean sheets in 2016/17, conceding just 29 goals in 38 league games, so City have their work cut out scoring.
Summary
No side shut out more clubs than United, while only Tottenham conceded fewer over the course of last season.
Only Chelsea and Manchester City had better away records than Manchester United in 2016/17 too, so they won’t have any trepidation ahead of their trip to the Liberty Stadium.
. What will be the final score?