Man Utd V Swansea at Old Trafford : Match Preview

Man Utd V Swansea - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


Sunshine break for Rooney

Manchester United have sent Wayne Rooney for some warm weather training.


Manager David Moyes confirmed both Rooney and strike partner Robin van Persie will miss Saturday's Premier League encounter with Swansea at Old Trafford.


Moyes said Van Persie would still be absent for "a little while" with a long-standing thigh injury, while hoping Rooney would respond to the better temperatures.


"We have sent Wayne away on a hot weather break," said Moyes.


"His groin has not quite recovered yet.


"We have sent a fitness coach with him. He's away with the family. Hopefully we will get him fit for Chelsea."


Rooney has missed United's defeats to Swansea and Sunderland in the last week, having had a scan on his groin injury last Friday.


Van Persie has not featured since the home defeat by Newcastle on December 7, his only game since the middle of November.


"Robin is not available," said Moyes.


"He is going to be a little while. We are doing everything we can to get him back as quickly as we can."


In addition, Rio Ferdinand (knee), Phil Jones (knee), Marouane Fellaini (wrist), Nani (hamstring) and Ashley Young (shoulder) are injured, whilst Fabio is suspended.


Swansea's injury woes have also deepened.


Jonathan de Guzman, Roland Lamah and Dwight Tiendalli have joined Nathan Dyer, Pablo Hernandez, Garry Monk, Michel Vorm and Michu on the sidelines, leaving manager Michael Laudrup with limited options against the reigning champions.


Ashley Williams, Ben Davies and Angel Rangel will return to the back four with Jose Canas and Leon Britton set to start together as deep-lying midfielders.


Laudrup believes United will turn around their poor start to the season.


The Red Devils are on a run of three straight defeats in all competitions, the second of which came at the hand of Laudrup's Swansea in the FA Cup last weekend.


A fourth successive loss would make this United's worst run since 1961, and their hopes of retaining their title appear all but over as they trail leaders Arsenal by 11 points.


But Laudrup expects Moyes and his players to get back on track, having experienced a similar slump during his spell with Real Madrid.


The Spanish giants could only finish sixth during the 1995-96 campaign, having won the title the previous season, but hit back to win the Primera Division a year later.


Laudrup said: "I have been through a bad period with a big club myself, in my second year at Real Madrid.


"In my first year we won the league and we started the second year we badly, we lost many more games than a club like that is used to.


"We were down in sixth or seventh position which was very unusual.


"It was a difficult moment and the manager was sacked in January and another manager came in.


"But big clubs are always coming out at the end of the tunnel, they always bounce back and Manchester United will do the same like Madrid did.


"They are huge clubs and I am not only talking about the money, but the history. They will come back.


"It will take more than one result, you have to come back and win regularly.


"You can change some players to get the winning feeling back but they have that and I am sure they will get back on track. Let's just hope they wait until after Saturday and they are not too angry with us."