Manchester United will continue their late charge for a top-four spot when they host relegation-threatened Swansea City at Old Trafford on Sunday lunchtime.

The Red Devils are just one point off the Champions League places and would temporarily climb into the top four with victory this weekend, although they face a Swansea side in desperate need of points themselves.

Man Utd

The reaction from the Manchester United players following Thursday night's goalless draw with Manchester City told you everything you need to know about their ambitions for the rest of the season.

Bragging rights were of no importance for Jose Mourinho as his side looked to hold out against their local rivals, and even climbing into the Champions League places with victory on the night was secondary to simply not losing the game.

Defeat would have left them playing catch-up in the top-four race once again, but the draw keeps things in their hands with only two points separating them from third-placed Liverpool, who have played a game more than Mourinho's men.

The simple fact of the matter, then, is that United will qualify for next season's Champions League if they win the remainder of their games, although that will be a lot easier said than done with trips to fellow top-four hopefuls Arsenal and high-flying Tottenham Hotspur still to come.

United may require further slip-ups from the teams above them in the table, then, but that makes victories in matches such as this weekend's all the more important.

It is another quick turnaround for Mourinho's side, who have been handed the earlier kickoff on a Sunday for the second week in a row after playing 120 minutes in the Europa League last week and having to finish this Thursday's match with 10 men following Marouane Fellaini's mindless sending-off.

A packed fixture schedule is nothing new for United, but Fellaini's suspension further limits the options for Mourinho with fellow midfielders Paul Pogba and Juan Mata among the injury doubts ahead of a season-defining week that will also see them take on Celta Vigo in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final next Thursday.

With both routes looking like viable ways into next season's Champions League it is too big a risk for Mourinho to sacrifice one and focus on the other, but the Portuguese must also be wary of damaging his side's chances on both fronts with his injury list mounting.

United's unbeaten record in the Premier League now stands at 24 matches - level with their club record for a single top-flight season - but the defining feature of that run has been home draws in exactly this type of fixture and the Red Devils will be desperate to avoid falling into old habits and sharing the spoils for a 10th time in front of their own fans this season.

The Red Devils only have the eighth-best home record in the league this season despite just a solitary defeat at Old Trafford, but victory this weekend would see them record back-to-back home league wins for the first time in 2017 having won just two of their seven matches in front of their own fans since the turn of the year.

Victory over league leaders Chelsea in the most recent of those - backed up by a win at Burnley and Thursday's draw with Man City - have boosted their top-four hopes greatly, but Mourinho will know that his side can not afford to take their foot off the pedal from now until the end of the campaign.

Recent form: DDWWWD
Recent form (all competitions): WDWWWD

Swansea

A trip to Old Trafford has never been ideal for a team fighting against relegation, but Swansea are running out of time in their battle against the drop and need to steal a march on Hull City somewhere if they are to leapfrog the Tigers in the table.

The two clubs sit either side of the all-important dotted line, with Hull's remarkable home form under Marco Silva keeping their noses in front of Swansea in recent weeks.

Paul Clement may have felt that his side were on course to move back out of the bottom three during their 2-0 win over Stoke City last weekend, particularly after hearing that Hull had been reduced to 10 men after just 25 minutes in their match, but the Tigers managed to dig out a win that leaves Swansea still two points adrift of safety.

Both clubs face away games this weekend, and it is those trips on the road that could ultimately decide who stays up and who goes down considering how strong both have been at home.

The away form is where both clubs need major improvement, with Swansea having lost their last six matches and picked up only seven points from the last 48 on offer, failing to even score in their last three outings on the road.

On paper, Sunday's match appears to be the most difficult left for the Swans, with Everton to come at the Liberty Stadium next weekend before facing a Sunderland side who could already be relegated and a West Bromwich Albion team with little left to fight for in the final two games of the campaign.

In contrast, Hull's run-in looks tougher, with away games to Southampton and in-form Crystal Palace as well as home outings against lowly Sunderland and high-flying Tottenham Hotspur.

The first of those - the trip to St Mary's - comes on Saturday, so Swansea will know by the time they kick off at Old Trafford whether the gap has grown or whether a win will be enough to lift them out of the relegation zone.

Beating United is something that no team has managed in the league since October, though, and with defeat potentially leaving the Swans five points adrift of safety, this weekend could be a make or break one for the club.

Recent form: LDLLLW

Team News

Mourinho has confirmed that Pogba will miss Sunday's match with the muscular problem that kept him out of Thursday's derby, leaving United relatively short of midfield options.

Fellaini begins his suspension while Mata remains sidelined with a groin injury, which could lead to Mourinho restoring club-record goalscorer Wayne Rooney in a midfield role.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo are long-term absentees with knee ligament damage, and United are so depleted at the back that Mourinho joked that he may have to select himself to play alongside 19-year-old Axel Tuanzebe.

The hosts will be without Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Timothy Fosu-Mensah, leaving Eric Bailly and Daley Blind as the only senior options in central defence.

Swansea, meanwhile, will hand late fitness tests to Martin Olsson and Jack Cork after both missed the win over Stoke due to hamstring and ankle complaints respectively.

Leroy Fer is also a doubt after picking up a dead leg in last week's match, while Wayne Routledge, Angel Rangel and Nathan Dyer remain sidelined.

Top-scorer Fernando Llorente should start again, while Gylfi Sigurdsson is bidding to become only the fourth player in history to score in three consecutive Premier League away games at Old Trafford.

Man Utd possible starting lineup:
De Gea; Young, Bailly, Blind, Shaw; Herrera, Carrick, Rooney; Mkhitaryan, Rashford, Lingard

Swansea possible starting lineup:
Fabianski; Naughton, Fernandez, Mawson, Olsson; Fer, Cork, Carroll; Ayew, Llorente, Sigurdsson

Head To Head

United have won their last two matches against Swansea following a run of three consecutive defeats, all by a 2-1 scoreline.

Having failed to win any of their first 10 visits to Old Trafford in all competitions, including eight defeats, Swansea have won two of their last four - although their most recent trip ended in a 2-1 defeat.

United ran out 3-1 winners in the November reverse fixture between these two sides, with Ibrahimovic helping himself to a brace and Pogba also on the scoresheet at the Liberty Stadium.

We say: Man Utd 2-1 Swansea

Both sides need a win just as much as each other in this match and, while United have slipped up too many times at home this season, their recent results seem to have put them back on the right track. Swansea's away record is woeful and Old Trafford is an unlikely place for them to turn that around, so we're going for a narrow home win.