It may be just 90 days ago that the Swans lost to Fulham to end our most successful season in our history but tomorrow we start it all again as we welcome Manchester United to the Liberty for the first game of the new Premier League season.

A 9th place finish and a Capital One Cup Victory capped our centenary season last time around and whilst we are already underway thanks to our Europa League campaign it is the league that as usual will provide the main focus of the new season and what better way to start then with the side that ran away with the division last time around.

Of course it is a different Manchester United that arrive at the Liberty this time around as for the first time in almost 27 years they have a new manager in charge with David Moyes making the short trip down the M62 to take over from the now retired Sir Alex Ferguson. And that managerial change means that many have already written off them this season with many 'experts' predicting a season of struggle for the most successful team in English football history.

Whether that happens remains to be seen but it is safe to say that things are not completely rosy in the garden at Old Trafford with the well publicised transfer saga involving Wayne Rooney hitting the headlines more than once a week as the debate goes on as to whether he should stay or go.

So it is possibly safe to say that there is no better time to come up against Manchester United particularly after a pre-season that has seen us scoring freely and looking solid at the back. A first progression in the Europa League will put us in a good position too in terms of confidence and I have to say that for a few weeks I have been quietly confident on us springing a surprise and coming through with the shock result of the weekend.

In terms of our team news I think we will see the first Premier League starts for the Swans for both Jonjo Shelvey and Jose Canas but I think we may have to make do with seeing Wilfried Bony come on from the bench as I have a sneaky feeling that Michu will lead the line in the first game. I think that Pablo Hernandez' lack of game time in recent weeks will mean that Nathan Dyer and Wayne Routledge occupy the wide spots in the first game of the season.

The back four picks itself almost - Ben Davies will get the nod ahead of Neil Taylor so I expect to see the Swans line up as Vorm, Davies, Chico, Williams, Rangel, Britton, Canas, Shelvey, Dyer, Routledge, Michu.

The Swans will be backed by a full house sell out for the opening day and as has become tradition all will go to the game with their hopes fresh for the new season although we have to wonder whether we can keep surpassing our previous season's performance but with our new additions we certainly have a chance of doing that this time around.

As I said earlier I generally can see us springing a surprise this time around and I am going to go for the Planet Swans matchday prediction as a 2-0 win for the Swans with goals from Michu and Shelvey which will leave the media on Sunday crucifying Mr Moyes and predicting the end of the Man Utd success train. Lump on!!

Photo: Action Images

borinifanclub added 21:01 - Aug 16 Swans to win 2-1 (bony in the last minute to repay Rio for last years away game)
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