Huzzah! Another long and boring international break, the last one of this season, is just about over now as we have Premier League football to focus on again. Manchester United will hope to tighten their grip on second place this Saturday when they welcome Swansea City to Old Trafford. The Red Devils come in to this one showing decent form, with just one loss, four wins and one draw in their last six.
Of course, the one loss was the UEFA Champions League elimination at the hands of underdog Sevilla, so it’s a defeat that kind of casts a shadow over the recent run of results. Mourinho’s inexplicable game plan in that contest certainly does’t help us move on from that bitter setback.
Swansea City have vastly improved under new manager Carlos Carvalhal, as they have lost just twice in league competition since he assumed the position on December 28. Fighting to save themselves from regulation in 2017, the Swans are now 14th place in the table. Since Carvalhal took over, they have recorded big wins over both Liverpool and Arsenal.
Swansea come into this one with two wins, two draws and two losses in their last six.
Without further ado, here is our MUFC starting XI prediction (4-3-3)
Alexis Sanchez Romelu Lukaku Jesse Lingard
Paul Pogba Nemanja Matic Juan Mata
Ashley Young Eric Bailly Chris Smalling Antonio Valencia
David de Gea
Odds via Bet365: Man Utd 1/4, draw 5/1, Swansea City 9/1
Match injury/fitness report: go to this link
Mourinho press conference video: coming Friday
Prediction: United 2, Swansea 0
As always feel free to post your own MUFC starting XI and match score predictions in the comments section below.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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