Leon Britton hopes David Moyes' move to Manchester United will see a downturn in the Scot's fortunes at the Liberty Stadium. The footballing world will be focusing on Moyes when he takes his place in the Manchester United dug-out against Swansea, to begin in earnest the
unenviable task of succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson in the managerial hotseat. But trips to south Wales have held few fears for Moyes since Swansea joined the Barclays Premier League ranks in 2011. His Everton teams enjoyed comfortable victories over the Swans by margins of 2-0 and 3-0, at a venue where few top-flight sides have found it easy going.
Midfielder Britton played in both those games and, with pundits tipping Swansea to upset the defending champions, is hopeful of turning the tables on the
new United boss.
"With his Everton teams, David Moyes did well when he came here and they were probably the most convincing team we have played in the Premier League at the Liberty," he said. "He seemed to get his tactics spot on, but hopefully come Saturday that won't be the case.
"It will be all eyes on Manchester United to see how things go now Sir Alex Ferguson has left. "It is a great occasion to be involved in, it's a new era at that football club and the eyes of the whole world
will be on us. If we can cause an upset and get a result that would be great.
" Jonathan de Guzman will miss the match due to concussion after the Dutch midfielder was hurt in a training ground collision on international duty.
Pablo Hernandez and Jonjo Shelvey are available again after their respective groin injury and illness, while Wilfried Bony is set to feature despite only arriving back from Ivory Coast's friendly against Mexico in New Jersey late on Thursday evening.
Chris Smalling believes Manchester United's tough start to the Premier League campaign could ultimately work to their advantage.
Manager David Moyes was so concerned at United's opening five games, which sends them to Swansea for the start of their title defence before matches against Chelsea, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Manchester City, that he contacted league officials. Moyes got a reassurance the schedule was arrived at purely at random. Nevertheless, the new boss feels it is United's toughest start for 20 years.
Yet the spin-off is that positive results will put the Red Devils' challengers under pressure, which is how Smalling prefers to look at it.
"We've got some big fixtures at the start of the season but if we can put on some really good performances and pick up a few points it's going to give us a big boost and set us apart from our rivals,"
said Smalling, speaking before Moyes had his say on the fixtures.
"In one sense it is good to get them out of the way." Rafael's absence with a hamstring injury means the right-back spot is available, which both Smalling and
Phil Jones could fill.
And David Moyes must decide whether to include Wayne Rooney in the squad for his first Premier League game as Manchester United manager at Swansea.
Rooney completed 65 minutes of his first game of the summer when England defeated Scotland on Wednesday and is expected to be on the bench at the Liberty Stadium. Rafael and Javier Hernandez (both hamstring) and wing duo Nani and Ashley Young are all expected to be sidelined, so Wilfried Zaha stands by for his first top slight start, although Michael Carrick should recover from the eye infection which kept him out of England's friendly.
Topic: Today 17/8/2013, 17:30 GMT+100 - Swansea City vs Manchester United (Read 1038 times)
