Darmian: We Must Be Ready For Swansea

Matteo Darmian admitted it will be difficult for Manchester United to face Swansea City so soon after another Thursday night game but insists he and his team-mates must be ready to go again.

The Reds take on the relegation-threatened Swans at Old Trafford at midday on Sunday, just 62 hours after the final whistle in the goalless derby draw at Manchester City.

It's the third of five successive weeks in which United must handle a Sunday game immediately after playing on Thursday, but Darmian, who has started five of the last six matches, feels the Reds must continue to focus on the task in hand.

The versatile Italian told MUTV: “Yes, we haven't got too much time for recovery and to prepare for the game but, from now until the end of the season, we play every few days, so we have to be ready.
Everyone is important so we have to be focused, play on Sunday and win.”

The stalemate at the Etihad Stadium left the Reds, who are unbeaten in 24 Premier League matches, just a point behind fourth-placed City, with five league games remaining for both teams.

But, despite two testing trips to north London to face Arsenal and Tottenham to come after Swansea, Darmian is still very hopeful that United can continue to breathe down the necks of the top-four rivals and achieve the aim of Champions League qualification.

“Yes, of course. It's our objective to finish in the top four. We are there, five games to go, we have to win and put pressure on Manchester City and Liverpool,” he said.

United currently have a number of absentees, with Marouane Fellaini and Tim Fosu-Mensah adding to the lengthy list after the game against City, but the players illustrated their togetherness with a show of support for the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo by wearing T-shirts with their names on the back in the warm-up before last weekend's win at Burnley.

When asked if team spirit is high at the moment, Darmian said: “Yes. I think, from the beginning, the team spirit is very good and it's a good thing.” 

The defender put in another solid display at left-back against City and described the result as "a good point" but maintained the players must be ready for another tough outing against a Swansea side who are fighting to stay up under new boss Paul Clement.  

Reflecting on holding Pep Guardiola's City, he commented: “I think we didn't concede a lot of chances away, so we were in control. We were good in defence. Of course, we can do better up front but it was okay and now we have to be focused on Sunday against Swansea and another difficult game but we have to win.”