Swansea 2-1 Manchester United

Buoyed by the trip to Belgium, United started well. Lukasz Fabianski was called into action to beat out a free-kick from Memphis Depay which skidded from the slippery surface.

Mata lashed one over from just outside the penalty box and then screwed an excellent opening wide, midway through the first half. Ander Herrera poked a pass to Mata but, coming onto the ball from United’s right, he pulled it wide with his left foot.

Swansea stirred, with Jack Cork and Jonjo Shelvey taking control in the centre of the pitch and overwhelming Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger who, for all his poise and experience, still looks a yard short of Premier League tempo.

Swansea (4-2-3-1): Fabianski 6.5, Naughton 6.5, Fernandez 6.5, Williams 6.5, Taylor 6, Cork 6.5, Shelvey 6.5 (Bartley 88), Ayew 7.5, Sigurdsson 6.5, Routledge 6 (Ki 58, 6.5), Gomis 7 (Eder 80)

Subs not used: Dyer, Nordfeldt, Tabanou, Rangel

Manager: Garry Monk

Goals: Ayew 61, Gomis 66

Manchester United (4-2-3-1): Romero 4.5, Darmian 6, Smalling 6, Blind 5, Shaw 6.5, Schneiderlin 5.5 (Carrick 70, 6.5), Schweinsteiger 5.5, Mata 6.5 (Young 70, 6), Herrera 6 (Fellaini 76), Depay 4, Rooney 5

Subs not used: Johnstone, Hernandez, Carrick, Young, Valencia, Fellaini, McNair

Manager: Louis van Gaal

Goal: Mata 48

Referee: Martin Atkinson

Stadium: Liberty Stadium

+21

Lukas Fabianski (centre) and Ashley Williams (right) do their best to stop Mata, but they are helpless to prevent the Spaniard scoring

+21

Mata wheels away in celebration after putting Manchester United 1-0 up, while Swansea pair Williams and Fabianski lie on the turf

+21

Mata (left) roars with delight after scoring the opening goal, as he is joined at the corner flag by his Manchester United team-mates

Schweinsteiger was dispossessed in midfield before Ayew released Gomis, who missed the target. He ought to have done better, as should Gylfi Sigurdsson when he failed to test Sergio Romero followed an effective quick free-kick taken by Shelvey.

He had not conceded a Premier League goal when he arrived in Wales but Romero does not ooze calm and authority. His distribution was erratic and was almost made to pay when one clearance landed at the feet of Shelvey.

The Swansea midfielder quickly manufactured a long-range effort on goal but the Argentina goalkeeper had recovered to save on his line. He was beaten when Gomis hit a post after rolling clear from Daley Blind and Chris Smalling.

+21

New Swansea man - and scorer of their first goal - Ayew screams in pain after picking up an injury, but he was okay to continue

+21

Bastian Schweinsteiger (centre) plays a pass in the driving rain at the Liberty Stadium, as Jack Cork (right) watches on

+21

Daley Blind (bottom) is sent tumbling to the turf as Smalling (left) and Gomis (centre) rise to challenge for a header during the match

The home team were on top. Rooney smouldered up front, disconnected for long periods and yet, when Herrera found him before the interval, the United captain could produce nothing more than a tame stab at goal with the outside of his boot.

Another glimpse of goal vanished with a poor touch volleyed over by Rooney, but Mata eased some of the tension soon after the restart.

Luke Shaw’s powerful run down the left created the chance. Both Rooney and Neil Taylor missed Shaw’s cross at the near post and Mata beat Williams at the back-post to fire the ball high into the net.

Williams almost sliced into his own goal to make it two, moments later, but Fabianski was alert to the danger.

Shaw, who has had his problems with fitness and form since moving to Old Trafford, looked much more comfortable in this solid and unspectacular system and yet the goals conceded by United came from his area.

+21

Romero let in his first Premier League goals at the Liberty Stadium as Swansea came from behind to get a result against United

+21

Jonjo Shelvey (right), who has been tipped for a recall to the England squad this week, challenges Schweinsteiger for the ball

+21

Smalling (left) looks to nick the ball away from the foot of Cork during the Premier League match between Swansea and Manchester United

The young left back was trailing back from an overlap when Swansea levelled from a cross delivered by Sigurdsson.

Garry Monk deserves credit, too, responding to Mata’s goal by replacing Wayne Routledge with Ki Sung-yeung and giving Sigurdsson more freedom. Almost immediately, the Icelander had created an equaliser for Ayew, who arrived late to convert with a header.

It was Ayew on the right who supplied the second for Gomis, four minutes later, shaping a low pass towards the near post which took Shaw and Blind out of the game.

Gomis beat Smalling across the ground to finish his fourth in four this season. It was his ninth in his last 10 Premier League appearances, a contrasting number to Rooney’s last 10.