Premier League new boys Swansea City will be up against mighty Manchester United as the Barclay’s Premier League returns to action this weekend. The 21000 odd tickets for the match which will be held at the home of the Swans have been sold out for over a month now.
Only 2000 of these tickets were reserved for the away fans which caused concern in the Swansea board room with directives issued that any person who is found to have any Manchester United merchandise on them will not be allowed to enter the home end of the stadium. As the Swansea supporters club and the board recognized, there are a lot of Manchester United supporters in Swansea and they may have entered the home end of the stadium wearing the red of Manchester United which would have brought some shame to the club.
In the past few seasons as the Swans were battling it out in the lower leagues, it was common to see fans clad in Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea shirts on the main stands on a matchday. Now, that the club are competing on a same league as the big clubs though, the practice has been banned.
Swansea are 10th in the league standings at the moment with 13 points from 11 games 3 wins, 4 draws, and 4 losses). They have been patchy at best and will face a stiff test from a determined Manchester United side.
Manchester United, who started the season on a high after dismantling Tottenham and Arsenal at the Theater of Dreams seems to have lost their way for a while now after the initial injuries to Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck.
Manchester United narrowly escaped defeat at Norwich and Liverpool, but they were blown away 6-1 by their noisy neighbors Manchester City in front of their home fans. The Reds have recovered since then to post a couple of victories, but their performance has not been that of possible league champions with City setting the pace at the top of the table.
Cleverley is out till Christmas after picking up yet another knock against Everton. Rafael is back from injury though and has a chance of starting against Swansea.
Chris Smalling will be the other man in contention for a right back berth. Ferdinand, Vidic, and Evra will form the defense while Phil Jones and Michael Carrick are expected to start in the middle of the park.
Ashley Young has come back after his toe injury has healed while Nani will continue on the right flank. Wayne Rooney should return to starting as a forward while Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez battle it out for the spot of the main striker.
The match should be an interesting one given that most of the players are quite fresh after the International break last weekend. I will be putting my money on a United victory.