A history of our previous Premiership encounters
Before our Premier League fixtures this season Nathan Lewis will be looking at previous encounters with our prospective opponents. First up, obviously, is Manchester United. Enjoy!
Swansea v Man Utd
With the first game of the season coming up tomorrow, it’s worth us having a look at how we’ve fared against Man Utd in the last few years. Starting with our first Premier League game against the then champions, let’s look at how we’ve done:
19th November 2011
Premier League
Swansea 0-1 Man Utd
In our first game against Sir Alex Ferguson’s men, an early goal from Javier Hernandez was enough to decide a fairly tight game. It’s easy to wonder what might have happened if Angel Rangel hadn’t made a silly mistake at the back, gifting Ryan Giggs the ball, as the Swans gave as good as they got for large chunks of the match. Scott Sinclair in particular will have kicked himself for missing a gilt-edged chance after 22 minutes. I remember coming away from this game encouraged at how well we had matched the champions at home, and hoped we could nick a point or three in the return fixture.
6th May 2012
Premier League
Man Utd 2-0 Swansea
The Manchester side came into this game looking to score as many goals as they could, to put them in a commanding position going into the last round of games. It didn’t come too easily for them, with the Swans showing a decent amount of fight. They were ultimately too strong for us, and if they could have been more clinical, could easily have scored a few more. A Chicharito shoulder-instead-of-a-header miss springs particularly quickly to my memory.
23rd December 2012
Premier League
Swansea 1-1 Man Utd
“He could’ve had a broken neck”. In classic Ferguson style, Sir Alex picked on moments of controversy to talk about, rather than face the fact his side had been matched by Laudrup’s Swansea team. An entertaining game - even if you remove Ashley Williams’ attempt at manslaughter. An early Evra header gave Man Utd the lead, before a good move and shot from Jon De Guzman left Michu with an easy finish to equalise. The Manchester side certainly had the majority of chances in the second-half, but the Swans held on and took a very valuable point.
12th May 2013
Premier League
Man Utd 2-1 Swansea
A game perhaps overshadowed by it being Sir Alex Ferguson’s last home game as manager of the Red Devils, it was another tight affair. As seems to be a repeating theme, Man Utd got the first goal through Javier Hernandez capitalising on confusion at the back. Soon after half-time though, that man Michu popped up with a lovely touch to equalise. After a hard-fought second-half in which it looked like Swansea might come away with a point, Rio Ferdinand scored a header from a van Persie corner to seal the win, and top off a day in which Ferguson’s men lifted the trophy.
17th August 2013
Premier League
Swansea 1-4 Man Utd
First game of the season, and a new manager for Manchester United. Sound familiar? What a start it was for David Moyes. This was a strange game however, with the scoreline flattering Man Utd somewhat. Swansea controlled possession throughout, but Van Persie & co. were just the more clinical of the two teams, with the Dutchman and Welbeck both grabbing two. A sign of things to come however, with the big man Wilfried Bony slotting home a lovely finish to score his first of sixteen league goals.
5th January 2014
FA Cup Third Round
Man Utd 1-2 Swansea
A win! At last! For a lot of United fans, this seems to be the real turning point for David Moyes. For once we took the lead, with Bony and Pozuelo combining beautifully to play Routledge through, who lifted the ball over De Gea, but it wasn’t long before Javier Hernandez equalised (he scores loads against us!). Fabio had a go at breaking Canas’ leg and was sent off, before Routledge made space to cross for Wilf, who arrived with a strong header to put us through to the fourth round.
11th January 2014
Premier League
Man Utd 2-0 Swansea
Six days later, and hopes were high that we would be able to beat Moyes’ men twice in two weeks. It wasn’t to be, and United were much better, scoring two second-half goals to take 3 points. It’s in this game that I began to tire of Chico appealing for offside after every goal. I’ll miss that man.
Games played: 7
Wins: 1
Draws: 1
Losses: 5
Goals For: 5
Goals Against: 13
Not a great record then, with a win percentage of just 14%, but it’s hard to argue that you’d expect any more from the Swans, given Man Utd’s reputation as one of the best sides in the world (at least under Sir Alex Ferguson...). There are some positives however. Every game that has taken place between Man Utd and Swansea has been a close affair. Even in the 4-1 reverse that we suffered at the start of last season, the Swans gave their wealthier rivals reason for concern.
So what can we expect from our season opener on Saturday? Well, this is an inexact science, but the past results would suggest a tight affair, decided by one goal either way.
Nathan’s prediction: Man Utd 2-1 Swansea
Thanks to Nathan for this first preview of the season! You can follow him on Twitter @NathDavidLewis