Manchester United suffered their first defeat of the Premier League season when Swansea fought back to edge out the 2-1 victory.
The first half was a 45 minutes of close calls with Memphis Depay, Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata all coming close within the opening ten minutes of proceedings. Gary Monk’s side broke into the game and came very close to opening the scoring with Gylfi Sigurdsson, Jonjo Shelvey and Bafetimbi Gomis all coming with inches but the score remained goalless.
Mata gave United lead minutes after the restart before Andre Ayew scored the first goal against United this season on the hour mark before Gomis added a second six minutes later. United pushed for an equaliser but it was to no avail.
United dominance
Memphis caused havoc in the opening two minutes when turned Neil Taylor before drawing the foul from Kyle Naughton, the Dutchman stood over the subsequent free-kick but his low shot was palmed away Lukas Fabianksi.
After the frantic opening proceedings the tempo died down but it was United on the front foot, Luke Shaw played a great ball behind the defence into Rooney but he couldn’t get his shot away and skipper Ashley Williams got it away.
Memphis was running the show again in the 21st minute when he played it of Ander Herrera who span well on the edge of the area before laying it off to his compatriot, Mata, but the Spaniard could only find the side netting.
Swansea pressure
The home side had hardly been in the game around the quarter hour mark but a flurry of chances followed.
Sigurdsson came close bang on 25 minutes when Gomis’ flick fell to the Iceland international who fired just inches wide of the far post.
Goalkeeper Sergio Romero almost gifted the home side the lead seconds later when he fluffed a clearance which fell for Shelvey who attempted to volley it over the keeper but Argentine managed to recover and keep it out with ease.
They came even closer in the 27th minute when Gomis showed some great individual trickery on the corner of the box to cut inside and get the shot off but it clipped the wrong side of the post.
String of half chances
After that string of pressure, United started to get back in to the game but were lacking composure in front of Fabianski’s goal.
With ten minutes to play in the half Herrera played a great through ball to Rooney who attempted the first-time chip over Fabianksi but it proved a comfortable save for the former Arsenal man.
A half chance for Rooney which was headed away by Naughton, but possession was instantly regained by Morgan Schneiderlin who drove forward before playing it off to Herrera but his effort from 25-yards out was dragged well wide.
Mata opens the scoring
It only took four minutes into the second period to open the scoring, it was Shaw again who clipped a dangerous ball into area which was missed by Rooney. The skipper’s loss, was Mata’s gain as the Spaniard ran in at the back post to smash the ball into the roof of the net.
Ayew equalises
Swansea found themselves back on level terms on the hour mark, Sigurdsson played an excellent ball into the area which found the head of Ayew and he showed great technique to head it into the ground and over Romero.
Gomis takes the lead
It was only six minutes after their equaliser that Swansea took the lead for the first time, goal scorer Ayew arched an excellent ball around the United defence which fell to the feet of Gomis. The Frenchman then released a first-time which Romero could only flap at on its way into the bottom corner.
Resilient Swans
After Gomis gave the Swan’s the lead, they proved very difficult to break down reducing United to half chances.
Memphis out muscled Naughton in the 75th minute in an attempt to get on the end Ashley Young’s cross but Fabianksi rose highest to claim the ball.
The final real opportunity for United came two minutes from time, Rooney who had a host of opportunities on the day, came close again. The skipper plucked Matteo Darmian’s cross out of the air before bearing down on goal after rolling Federico Fernandez, but Williams was there again to disrupt his flow and the chance was gone.