What can the start of the new calendar year bring for Louis van Gaal? That remains to be seen as Manchester United get set to welcome Swansea at Old Trafford on Saturday.
The Dutch manager did not experience a very comfortable ending to the previous calendar year, and he will be looking for nothing but positivity at the start of the year. United recorded a goalless draw against defending Premier League champions Chelsea in the final game of 2015, and that could be the start of a new beginning Van Gaal needs.
Prior to the game against the Blues, United recorded three-straight defeats against Bournemouth, Norwich and Stoke.
Van Gaal, who has previously coached at Bayern Munich as well as Barcelona and Ajax, has admitted that times have been tough, but he nevertheless applauded the Red Devils supporters for staying through thick and thin.
"This is not the first club, maybe the last club, where I have a bad period. I have had bad periods at all my clubs and I have to say the best fans are at Manchester United," the Dutchman said ahead of the game. "In such a difficult period, they are applauding the performance of the players and that is fantastic."
The Red Devils are currently sixth in the Premier League, whereas their opponents, Swansea are struggling in 17th place. The Swans have notched up just four wins this season, and have already seen their full-time manager Garry Monk part ways with the club midway, after the poor results.
Swansea are coming to the game undefeated in three, but their goalscoring form this season has taken a hit. Swansea have scored just 16 goals from 19 games this season, a stat that is a major worry for the club's careteaker manager Alan Curtis.
"When you look at our 'goals for' column it is a problem, we need to score more," Curtis said. "It's not necessarily the strikers to blame for that as we need to produce better quality service into the frontmen."
Team news: Manchester Utd: Antonio Valencia (knee), Luke Shaw (leg), Lingard (hamstring) and Marcos Rojo (shoulder) are still on the sidelines.
Swansea: Éder (ankle) and Franck Tabanou (thigh) remain on the sidelines, while Angel Rangel (ankle) and Wayne Routledge (knee) look doubtful for today's game.
Possible starting XI: Manchester Utd: De Gea; Smalling, Blind, Darmian, Young; Carrick, Schneiderlin; Mata, Herrera, Martial; Rooney.
Swansea: Fabianski; Fernandez, Williams, Taylor, Rangel; Ki, Cork; Montero, Sigurdsson, Ayew; Gomis.
Where to watch the game
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Manchester United vs Swansea is scheduled to kick-off at 3 pm GMT (8:30 pm IST, 10 am EST) on Saturday, 2 January.
In India, viewers can catch the game on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports HD 1. Online streaming will be available on Starsports.com and Hotstar.
In the UK and Ireland, radio commentary of the game will be available on BBC Radio 5 Live and TalkSport Radio World.
In the US, viewers can catch the game on the USA Network. Online streaming will be available on NBC Sports Live Extra. Radio commentary of the game will be available on Westwood One Sports.
MUTV will also broadcast the game live.
