Manchester United v Swansea – live! | Rob Smyth

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<div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.24.1.1/54441?ns=guardian&pageName=Manchester+United+v+Swansea+*+live%21+%7C+Rob+Smyth%3AArticle%3A1741347&ch=Football&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Premier+League+2011-12%2CPremier+League+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2CSport%2CManchester+United+%28Football%29%2CSwansea+City+%28football+club%29&c5=Unclassified%2CPremier+League&c6=Rob+Smyth&c7=12-May-06&c8=1741347&c9=Article&c10=Minute+by+minute%2CMatch+report&c11=Football&c13=&c25=&c30=content&c42=Sport&h2=GU%2FSport%2FFootball%2FPremier+League+2011-12" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">• Hit F5 or auto-refresh for the latest news<br />• <a href="mailto:rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk">Whisper sweet nothings at rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk</a><br />• <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/06/newcastle-united-manchester-city-live">Newcastle v Manchester City – live!</a><br />• <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/06/premier-league-clockwatch-live-football">Premier League clockwatch – live!</a><br />• <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/matches">The latest scores from around England and Europe</a><br />• <a href="http://guardian.touch-line.com/">The live, in-running Premier League table</a></p><!-- Block 2 --><p><strong>Team news</strong> Antonio Valencia returns for United after his strange omission on Monday. Swansea return to their familiar system after experimenting with a 3-5-2 against Wolves last weekend.</p><p><strong>Manchester United (4-4-2)</strong> De Gea; Jones, Smalling, Ferdinand, Evra; Valencia, Carrick, Scholes, Young; Rooney, Hernandez.<br />Subs: Amos, Berbatov, Giggs, Park, Nani, Rafael Da Silva, Cleverley. </p><p><strong>Swansea (4-2-3-1):</strong> Vorm; Rangel, Caulker, Williams, Taylor; Allen, Gower; Dyer, Sigurdsson, Sinclair; Graham.<br />Subs: Tremmel, Tate, Britton, Routledge, Monk, McEachran, Moore.</p><p><strong>Referee:</strong> Chris Foy (Merseyside)</p><!-- Block 1 --><p><strong>Preamble I</strong> Sir Alex Ferguson loves goading proper journalists about the match report they were preparing to send after 90 minutes of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2rdG98keU0">the 1999 Champions League final</a>: tactical balls-up from Alex Ferguson, comfortably beaten by the savvier Germans, a bridge too far, you'll never win the European Cup with kids, Jesper Blomqvist$– bloody hell, and so on and so on.</p><p>It's not unusual for proper journalists to need a hasty rewrite of the introduction to their post-match report, especially when Ferguson's teams are involved, but it's pretty unusual for improper journalists to need a hasty rewrite of their pre-match introduction. That's the case this afternoon, sort of. The mood at Old Trafford will be determined almost entirely by the match between <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/06/newcastle-united-manchester-city-live?newsfeed=true">Newcastle and Manchester City</a>. If City win, United need snookers; if City fail to win, United will be two awkward but pottable balls – Swansea at home today and Sunderland away next week – from winning their 20th title. Misery or delirium, with nothing inbetween and no control over events. 'Squeaky-bum time' doesn't even come close.</p><p>So, there's no point doing a proper preamble until we know the City score. I'll be back at around 3.30pm with Preamble II: This Time He Has A Vague Idea What He's Talking About. In the meantime you can follow <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/06/newcastle-united-manchester-city-live?newsfeed=true">Newcastle v City with Jacob Steinberg</a>. It's 0-0 at half-time. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090852/quotes">It's not the despair ...</a></p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premier-league-2011-12">Premier League 2011-12</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague">Premier League</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/manchester-united">Manchester United</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/swansea">Swansea City</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/robsmyth">Rob Smyth</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" />
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