Manchester United host Swansea City at Old Trafford on Saturday hoping to build on their performance against Chelsea last time out and start 2016 with a win.
Louis van Gaal relieved some of the pressure on his shoulders on Monday evening despite the fact that his side played out a goalless draw with the Premier League champions, as their display undoubtedly gave supporters hope moving forward.
The Red Devils ended a four-game losing streak in all competitions with the result, and they will hope that luck is on their side this time round after being unfortunate not to break the deadlock in an entertaining encounter.
Nevertheless, Van Gaal won’t dwell on that game as he will be fully aware that a negative result to a struggling Swansea side will only serve to pile the pressure back on his shoulders amid speculation that his future is in doubt.
United currently sit in sixth place in the table, and they will be buoyed by the fact that their injury crisis is easing with only Jesse Lingard, Marcos Rojo, Antonio Valencia and Luke Shaw now sidelined.
However, they will need to be careful regardless of who features as the visitors arrive at Old Trafford in the midst of a good run of results having gone unbeaten in three.
Following the sacking of Garry Monk earlier this month, Swansea have picked up a win over West Brom and two goalless draws against West Ham United and Crystal Palace respectively to ensure that they have secured three consecutive clean sheets.
As a result, they will arguably head to Manchester with the view of being difficult to break down before hitting United on the counter attack. In turn, it promises to be an exciting clash between two sides desperate for a victory.
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