Swansea force Manchester United to 1-1 draw at Old Trafford

Visiting Swansea on Sunday held Manchester United to a 1-1 draw at the end of a pulsating English Premier League (EPL) encounter at Old Trafford.

A sublime free-kick by Icelandic international Gylfi Sigurdsson gained Premier League strugglers Swansea a well deserved point with Manchester United.

It was reported that ot was a result which dealt a blow to United’s UEFA Champions League hopes.

Sigurdsson’s 10th goal of the season but his first in 11 matches cancelled out veteran Wayne Rooney’s contentious penalty kick in the 79th minute.

Manchester United had taken the lead in time added on in the first-half from the penalty kick spot.

This was after Marcus Rashford made the most out of a minimal contact with ‘Swans’ goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

The point saw United move level on points with city rivals Manchester City but remained fifth, a place outside the automatic spot for the Champions League on poor goal difference.

It will be of little consolation to manager Jose Mourinho that it extended their unbeaten run to 25 and an unbeaten run at Old Trafford since Sept. 10 last year.

Unfortunately for Mourinho, he saw two more defenders depart injured in the impressive Eric Bailly on the hour mark and Luke Shaw.

“We lost players and we lost points. So, yes, today was a bad day,” he said after the match.

“We did not look tired and exhausted, we are tired and exhausted. You cannot isolate the performance out of the context. This is the ninth match of April, it is not human.

“We have a squad of 22 that is reduced to 13 or 14 players. The players are very tired.

“I am more than happy with the players, they gave everything they could. I have zero criticism.

“I don’t know about the injuries. I think Luke Shaw’s must be a big injury, because to leave the pitch after 10 minutes I am expecting a very big injury.

“At the moment, we cannot walk from the bed to the loo and break a leg.”

His Swansea counterpart Paul Clement said Rashford had “deceived the referee” but added the point enforced their belief they could retain their elite status.

They are two points adrift of fourth from bottom Hull with three matches remaining.

“That is arguably a clean sheet today and we go into the next game against Everton fully believing that we can stay in this league for next season,” said Clement.

In other results of EPL matches played also today, Gabriel Jesus scored a late equaliser as Manchester City twice came from behind to draw 2-2.

It meant they were able to rescue a point in the race for a top-four finish.

It was reported that Nigeria’s Kelechi Iheanacho who has struggled for game time under Pep Guardiola could not even make the bench for this particular encounter.