With his team winless in eight games, the last opposition Louis van Gaal will want to face is the Swans, who have won four of the last five encounters against United including the last three in a row- all by the score of 2-1.
United's injury list is easing- with only Jesse Lingard (whom made his senior debut for the Reds in this fixture last year) and long term absentees Marcos Rojo (shoulder), Antonio Valencia (foot) and Luke Shaw (leg) sidelined.
Despite the visitors holding something of a hoodoo over his side, Van Gaal is confident that United can kick off 2016 in style, and said:
"We have lost three times in a row to Swansea but then you have to analyze why you have lost and how you can improve as a team.
"I am confident because I have seen the performance of my team against Chelsea and the way we played under that pressure was fantastic so we have to continue with that.
"I think that this year has not been so bad- we are out of the Champions League and that is a blow, but we have been first in the league and fulfilled our aim in the first season, so if you ignore December it was a very good year."
Swansea- under the interim stewardship of Alan Curtis following the sacking of Garry Monk- come to OT in 17th place and only two points above the drop zone.
However, their status as our recent bogey side coupled with our own recent form means that we should not take them for granted.
In Bafetimbi Gomis- whom scored the winner against United in August- they possess a genuine goal threat whilst Gylfi Sigurdsson and Jefferson Montero provide the pace and trickery.
Our last win over the men from the Liberty Stadium came almost two years to the day of this fixture- Antonio Valencia and Danny Welbeck the scorers in a 2-0 success for David Moyes United over Michael Laudrup's team.
Form guide: United D L L L L D Swansea L L L D W D
Match odds: United 16/4 Draw 32/5 Swansea 12/5
Referee: Jonathan Moss
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