Saturday 29 April 2017 20:27, UK
Manchester United will be without midfielder Marouane Fellaini for Sunday's Premier League clash at home to Swansea (kick-off 12pm) after his sending-off in the Manchester derby.
The Belgium international was shown a straight red card for head-butting Sergio Aguero in the 84th minute of Thursday's goalless draw at the Etihad Stadium.
The suspension, coupled with a mounting injury crisis, limits United boss Jose Mourinho's options as he looks to strengthen the club's bid for automatic Champions League qualification, with United a point and a place off neighbours City in fourth.
Two points from safety in 18th position, Swansea head to Old Trafford hoping to boost their bid for survival by rekindling their fine recent form away at United.
After failing to win any of their first 10 visits to Old Trafford in all competitions (D2 L8), the Swans have won two of their last four. Can they build on last week's victory over Stoke and take a step towards safety?
Team news
United defender Tim Fosu-Mensah suffered an injury in the latter stages of Thursday's game, adding to United's lengthy casualty list.
Paul Pogba (muscle) and Juan Mata (groin) are still out while it is unclear when Chris Smalling (knee) and Phil Jones (foot) will return.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo are both out for the season with knee injuries.
Swansea hope to have injured trio Martin Olsson, Leroy Fer and Jack Cork available for the trip to Old Trafford.
Olsson (hamstring) and Cork (ankle) both missed last weekend's home game against Stoke, while Fer suffered a dead leg in the early stages of that 2-0 victory.
Wayne Routledge (hernia), Angel Rangel (foot) and Nathan Dyer (Achilles) remain out.
Opta stats
United have won back-to-back Premier League meetings with Swansea, this after losing the previous three all by a 2-1 scoreline.
Wayne Rooney has had a hand in six goals in his last six Premier League appearances against Swansea (two goals, four assists).
Gylfi Sigurdsson could become the first player to score in three consecutive Premier League away appearances at Old Trafford since Sergio Aguero in April 2015.
Indeed, Emmanuel Adebayor, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Mark Viduka are the only other players to also achieve this feat.
Paul Clement has won six of his 15 Premier League games in charge of the Swans, giving him the best win ratio of any manager for the Welsh side in the competition (40 per cent).
No ground has seen more draws in the Premier League this season than Old Trafford (nine). The only season that United drew more home league games was 1980/81 (11).
United will break a new club record for the longest unbeaten run within a single top-flight season, should they avoid defeat in this match (25 games).
Merson's prediction
If City had won on Thursday, that would have probably been it for United's top-four hopes and Mourinho would have had to put all his eggs in the Europa League basket.
But with the draw at the Etihad, United will have a good chance of finishing in the top four and they'll go full strength against the Swans. I see a comfortable 2-0 win for the hosts at Old Trafford.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0 (Sky Bet odds 5/1)
Betting
United are odds-on at 2/5 to defeat Swansea, who are heavy outsiders with Sky Bet at 7/1 to win at Old Trafford, while the draw priced at 18/5. Mourinho's men drifted out from 2/1 to 9/4 finish in the top four after failing to beat neighbours City, while the Swans headed into the weekend at 11/8 to survive for another season in the Premier League. Rooney and Marcus Rashford are the joint favourites to score first at 3/1, while Fernando Llorente is seen as most likely threat for the visitors at 11/1.
