Manchester United travelled to the Liberty Stadium to face Swansea City. United had lost just 1 match in their last 19 fixtures and sat pretty in 3rd place with 47 points. Swansea, on the other hand, were 9th in the table with 34 points from 25 matches.
Louis van Gaal once again named a back four and Wayne Rooney up front, to the fans’ delight. Swansea were buoyed by the return of Gylfi Siggurdsson and were looking to do the double over the team from Manchester after beating them 2-1 on the opening day of the Premier League season.
The visitors got the upper hand early on in the game when midfielder Ander Herrera fired in a precise finish past Lukasz Fabianski from inside the box. The Spaniard was set up by another summer import from Spain, Angel Di Maria.
The home side were not demoralized after going behind as they levelled the scores through Ki Sung-yeung, who tapped a Jonjo Shelvey cross past a helpless David de Gea. The Swans got level after just 1 minute and 56 seconds.
The second half was more of the home side keeping United at bay, while trying to hit them on the counter attack. One such attack brought the home side the winner. Shelvey hit a piledriver, which was deflected by Bafetimbi Gomis and into the back of the net. To be fair to Shelvey, it looked like Gomis was trying to get out of that shot, instead of flicking it in.
The last 17 minutes after the goal saw a few chances for both teams, but neither could trouble the scoreline as Swansea completed the double over their famed opponents.
Swansea 0-1 Manchester United: Ander Herrera (28’)
Herrera put the finishing touches on a brilliant team move started by Luke Shaw which involved captain Rooney and Di Maria as well.
Swansea 1-1 Manchester United: Ki Sung-yeung (30’)
Ki’s run into the box was spotted well by Shelvey and the South Korean made no mistake in levelling the scores.
Swansea 2-1 Manchester United: Bafetimbi Gomis (73’)
Shelvey’s shot was deflected in by Gomis. Although Gomis’ name will come on the scoresheet, Shelvey will get all the credit for the goal.