I don’t want to lose again against Swansea City, says Louis van Gaal

Louis van Gaal’s first loss as Manchester United manager came against Swansea City. (Source: Reuters)

Louis van Gaal lost his first competitive match as Manchester United manager against Swansea City on the first day of last season and is expecting another difficult game from the Welsh side on Sunday.

Swansea went on to complete the Premier League double over United and the Dutchman is determined to take revenge at the Liberty Stadium.

“My first match was against Swansea and we lost, now I have my 50th and I hope we can show we have improved,” Van Gaal told reporters on Friday.

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“I don’t want to lose again. It’s the only club we could not beat or gain one point against, I hope we can improve and that we can show that we are better than last year.

“It will be difficult but we are better prepared than this time last year.”

Towering Belgian Marouane Fellaini is available to play his first Premier League game of the season after serving a suspension but Adnan Januzaj will miss out due to injury.

Van Gaal could be tempted to start Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera who made a lively contribution and scored a goal in the 4-0 Champions League qualifying win at Club Bruges on Wednesday.

“I had a theoretical scheme in my head that he could play at No. 10 and he did it well against Bruges,” Van Gaal said.

United have taken seven points from their first three league games of the season and lie joint third in the table despite only scoring two goals.

Captain Wayne Rooney, however, bagged a hat-trick in Bruges to open his account for the campaign.

“It will be a difficult game, it’s another year and another prospect,” Swansea manager Garry Monk said. “United have added quality to their squad with world-class players.

“It’s becoming more difficult to compete with these kind of squads. We’re up against one of the title contenders, it will be difficult but we’re looking forward to it.”

Swansea are sixth with five points including a draw at champions Chelsea.