In a way, a draw isn’t that bad for United - despite the unreliability of Liverpool and Manchester City, they’ve looked unlikely to qualify for the Champions League via a top-four finish for quite some time. Now, they can concentrate on peaking for Europe and saving their best players for those games, if there are any left; the injury to Eric Bailly is going to be a particular problem.

Meanwhile, if Swansea can replicate their performance this afternoon in their three remaining fixtures, they’ve a fair chance of staying up.

Here’s the match report:

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90+5 min United are doing their best to exert pressure, but Swansea are doing really well to shut down the man in possession and the passing angles. Eventually Young forces a route down the left, but a heavy touch has him sending a cross behind.

90+4 min Rashford has been disappointing today. Perhaps it’s the case that United’s best performances need him not Zlatan, but for percentages, Zlatan is your man.

90+3 min United win a corner down the left, Martial, their best player today, forcing it. Again, Rashford takes it, but all he can do is give Fabianski catching practise at the back post.

90+1 min Darmian concedes an unnecessary free-kick because that’s what he does, and Swansea have a free-kick, 40 yards out. And what a miss! Sigurdsson chips over the wall, Llorente loses Blind, who falls flat on his very handsome face, and he could score with head or foot! He goes with foot, misses, and De Gea catches, but dearie me, those were the points right there! There’ll be six added minutes.

90 min ...and Rashford goes for the far top corner, but connects with far too much power, and the ball whooshes harmlessly wide.

89 min Mkhitaryan snaps a pass inside to Martial, who takes a touch as Fernandez clatters him. Free-kick to United, close to the top-left corner of the box. Rashford is behind it...

88 min Swansea have been very good since Fer came on.

86 min Llorente does well pulling to the right, before rolling back into the middle, where Carroll slams over from 20 yards.

85 min Young moves down the left and, amazingly, comes back inside on his right before swerving a high cross towards far post. And Lingard is haring after it, doing well to wrap his coupon around the outside of the ball and divert it goalwards, but Fabianski snatches above his head.

84 min Looking at the goal again, De Gea might have done more to save it - more than nothing, say. The truth, though, is that it was so perfectly struck he’d probably still have done nothing about it.

82 min Nice interplay outside the box between Rashford and Martial, before Lingard absolutely shmices a delicate pass into touch.

81 min Martial pulls down a long cross, just outside the box, comes inside onto his right foot, and smacks a shot just over the bar.

80 min Three minutes too late, Rooney is replaced by Mkhitaryan.

77 min Lovely cross into the middle from Kingsley after clever passing to find him - Carrick heads clear. But then Rooney oafs into Ayew and Sigurdsson has a free-kick just outside the D, just right of centre...

75 min United look relatively composed in midfield, knocking it around probing for space. Blind then drives into Rashford, who touches back for Rooney and the ball goes wide left before making its way back into the middle. Herrera then rolls a lovely pass into Valencia’s path and he springs into a shot that Fabianski beats away.

72 min My word, what’s happened here! Rooney nuts the free-kick away towards Rashford, but Olsson absolutely piles through the ball, then he and Young pile into one other. The ref gives the ball to United, but it looked to me like they fouled each other.

72 min Montero has treatment, but to no avail; he’s replaced by Martin Olsson.

70 min Montero gets on the ball for the first time and skirts past Lingard then around the outside of Valencia, who comes back at him to poke behind. And oh dear ... Montero’s done his hamstring.

68 min Swansea are struggling to get the ball at the moment, but they now have pace, height and delivery in attack. I’d expect them to have at least one proper chance between now and full-time, which is to say that United need another goal to be sure of winning.

66 min “Whilst I agree with you that retrospective bans for diving isn’t the most important issue facing football at the moment,” emails Matt Loten, “considering its an issue which could basically be sorted over night, is that not slightly beside the point? It’s not really going to divert time and resources from tackling the other issues, after all.

The debate about whether it’s necessary at all, and whether one prefers the debate, is valid, but I think the financial stakes involved at the top level of the game, for me, means it has to come in. I was on the fence in the early days, but Henry’s handball against Ireland clinched it.”

My point about diving was about the outcry it generates, not about whether players should be banned retrospectively - I’d be happy for them to. I don’t think the money in the game has anything, or should have anything to do with how the laws are applied.

65 min Change for Swansea, Montero replacing Britton. Swansea are now set in the 4-3-3 with which United started; will Mourinho match it up?

63 min Down the left, Rashford streaks through three challenges and looks up to see only Martial in the box. So he whips in a hard, waist-high cross hoping for a friendly break of the ball, and gets no such thing.

62 min United have been a bit better this half for all that’s saying, and, they work the ball well from left to right where Martial turns up. Again, the path to goal opens up for him and he presses the ball through it, whereupon it takes a deflection off Mawson, and Fabianski does brilliantly to extend a leg in the opposite direction to the one in which he was moving. Great save.

60 min After some treatment, Bailly departs; Darmian arrives. At the same time, Fer replaces Ki for Swansea.

59 min Bailly is done, pulling up in the process of passing back, and his right ankle is jiggered. Naturally, youth development’s Mourinho is preparing Darmian, a not very good full-back, while Tuanzebe, a highly promising centre-back, sits at the side.

58 min It’s a little surprising that it took Mourinho 45 minutes to alter United’s formation; in his Chelsea days, he’d have made three changes after 17 minutes.

56 min Eric Bailly has hurt himself pursuing and hacking at Llorente. He’s down, and to compound the woe he’s being comforted by Rooney. If he can’t continue, United will be in real trouble; Darmian and Tuanzebe are potential replacement options.

54 min “Do you know if the referee will have seen a video of the penalty incident at half-time or have been otherwise informed of what we all know?” asks Michael Meagher. “It would surely play on his mind for the second half . . .”

I think they’re not meant to look; I heard a yarn to the contrary about a goal disallowed earlier this season.

52 min Swansea win a free-kick on the right and Sigurdsson arcs in a pearler. Llorente rises first too, between Bailly and Carrick, who between them do just enough to force a skew-whiff header across the face of the box. But United are not defending their box well today, instead relying on rushed clearances and fortuitous ball-bounces to preserve their clean sheet.

51 min “Haven’t the SPL had it as part of their disciplinary system for a number of years that players can be banned retrospectively for diving?” asks David Wall. “I remember a Rangers player getting suspended for a couple of games a number of years ago for a particularly blatant, and well publicised case. If they can do it (and the fact that it was a Rangers player in the top division shows how long they’ve had the policy) then why can’t everyone? It needn’t be that difficult or controversial, just like with retrospective bans for other offences now, where only the most obvious examples are penalised.”

I don’t have a problem with that. I just don’t think it’s that important, and I also think that there are bigger ills in the game.

49 min United should be home! Herrera picks up the ball on the right of the box, steps over a couple of times, and screws a fine low cross for Rooney. The net is gaping, but all he can muster is a shot powered against Martial’s back; what an oversight!

49 min United are now configured in a diamond to match Swansea: Carrick at its base, Rooney at its apex, and Herrera and Lingard on either side.

48 min “Rashford has clearly taken diving lessons from Fry and Laurie’s worst football coach,” emails Ian Copestake.

It was more of a crumple than a dive, I’d say.

46 min Naughton fouls Martial, who well and truly looks at him in return. It’s dead scary.

46 min With a sense of burning injustice, Swansea kick-off the second half.

“What are they waiting for? Bring on visual aids for referees,” emails Joseph Day.

I’m against - I just don’t think football is so important that we need to be certain about everything, and I also don’t think that everything is as clear cut as that was. I’d rather the game flowed and we all acted like adults when responding to refereeing errors. Here’s a piece discussing the issue in a bit more detail.

45 min Rashford drives at the Swansea defence, waits for Martial and slides him a pass into stride. But Mawson does excellently to smother his cut-back, giving United another corner from which they contrive nothing.

43 min United do have the players to match Swansea’s formation, and might also do well with Lingard up front alongside Rashford. Talking of whom, he continues his ascent into fury by overrunning the ball on the right, sliding hard into Ayew, and earning a yellow card.

42 min Lingard’s had enough of doing nothing on the right, so turns up at inside-left and cuts inside, wiping his boot across a shot that flies wide of the far post.

40 min Lovely from Swansea, working the ball beautifully from centre to left, lovely skill from Sigurdsson finding Carroll who takes the return on the left wing. He then clips a pass that Carroll, bursting into the box, should take in stride but can’t, and United have a breaking opportunity. So they pause, wait, consider, ponder, and the chance goes.

39 min Glenn Hoddle points out that United have twigged that it’s their full-backs who have time and space. The thing is, they’re still outnumbered by four to three in midfield diamond, so need fast switches and lost of movement to take advantage of a system that can sometimes leave too many men ahead of the ball.

37 min For all Swansea’s superiority, the best chance of the half so far was Martial’s. De Gea has made two smart saves, but Llorente and Ayew did well to get shots in at all.

35 min Rooney robs Ki, and Mawson does well to help his mate out, at cost of a corner. Rashford takes it - it’s not very good, and hasn’t he got work to do in the corner? Anyhow, it’s easily cleared at the front post.

33 min De Gea saves United again! Carroll spreads wide to Ayew as Blind tries to play offside, a couple of stepovers do for Young, and the keeper has to jut out a foot, the rebound only just missing out Sigurdsson.

32 min Martial fancies this, rolling his foot over the ball and behind his standing leg to attack Naughton again. But this time the defender keeps his eye on things, bundling through to clear.

30 min Carrick appears, first to a loose ball in midfield and sweeping it first-time out to Martial. Martial has Naughton on a croque monsieur, burning inside him, across Ki, and punching a low shot that’s too close to Fabianski, who can’t hold on. But he’s up and onto it before Lingard can poke home.

29 min If Swansea had played like this at home to Boro, they’d not be in the bottom-three.

27 min Swansea are doing what both Liverpool and Hull did in January: getting around Michael Carrick to prevent him setting the pace of the game and setting United on the attack.

26 min Young leaps towards a tackle with Ki but pulls out long before he gets anywhere near. Nonetheless the ref awards a free-kick, right of centre, 25 yards out. Sigurdsson goes for the bottom right, but De Gea reads it well and holds before returning Swansea the ball with a useless throw-out.

25 min Martial suddenly steps on it, absolutely rousting Kingsley via nutmeg. And Rooney’s in the middle waiting for the cut-back, but Fernandez does superbly to block.

23 min Little bit better from United, Rashford turning up on the right and ducking outside then inside Naughton. The ball then moves over to the other flank, where Young stands up a cross that is still too high when it reaches Rooney at the near post and he flashes a header over the top.

22 min Lovely turn from Llorente to buy space, and the ball goes right to Naughton. He cross well, but Blind waheys the header out of danger and United look to break...

20 min Swansea win a free-kick 35 or so yards out, left of centre - excellent play from Llorente to induce the foul from Valencia - and they’ve got a perfect position for Sigurdsson to curve one in. Which he does, and Rashford misses his clearing header! But the ball hits Llorente’s heel when it might have passed onto his laces, Bailly panics and slices a clearance, then Young completes the job.

19 min Martial is booked for an innocuous foul.

17 min Martial takes possession for what seems like the first time, strolling in off the left as Lingard screeches into the box. The pass is a good one too, clipped over Naughton and Fernanez and landing on Lingard’s laces. But with the ball coming over his shoulder, he can’t get strong enough contact, and Fabianski deflects behind; the corner comes to nothing.

15 min Rashford breaks, so Britton tips him and is booked. Free-kick to United, 30 yards out and right of centre ... Daley Blind territory, as it’s known in the game. He drifts an aimless special past the far post that troubles no one.

14 min Fantastic save De Gea! Kingsley lifts a pass into Llorente - he’s well offside, but no one bothers flagging - so he diddles Bailly instead, nipping inside him, and driving a sidefooted curler that the keeper palms into the air. Blind is on-hand to head away, but even then, it takes United several miserable goes to get the ball clear.

12 min Those who were nervous can now relax: this is going to be a boring game. But perhaps not! Again, Naughton lifts a ball into Ayew and he turns Bailly, who does just enough to battle back. But instead of smashing the clearance, to slides it to Sigurdsson, who can’t quite control the ricochet, putting it wide. United have been outstandingly abject so far!

10 min Valencia finds himself in a decent crossing spot and manages to refrain from destroying the first man’s shins, picking out the second instead.

8 min Poor old Luke Shaw. He’s down with some kind of leg aggravation, the physio tells him what’s what, and he departs. So, Valencia replaces him and Young goes to left-back. Pah! I thought Mourinho had a sense of humour! Valencia on the left is the Sunday fun we all need and deserve.

7 min Young plays Bailly into trouble, forcing him to stretch for a square-pass. So Ayew nips in, muscles him over, and the ref deems the challenge a foul. Didn’t look it to me.

6 min Swansea have started well. They’re outnumbering United in midfield, while United look like they’ve had mogadon pasta for brekky. And here’s Naughton, lifting a pass into Ki, inside the United box, right-hand side. He lets it drop, then rifles a snap-shot over the bar.

5 min Excellent pass from Carroll, into the space between Young and Bailly. Llorente chases after it - that is not a misprint - and again Bailly needs to be alert.

4 min Carrick hits a pass over Naughton’s head, and Rashford is in behind him, but the straight delivery allows the ball to skip behind.

3 min Bit of possession for Swansea, who waste time and patience knocking it along the back-line before Lingard hares into them. So they hump long, and Bailly actually has to defend when Llorente rushes him.

1 min Naughton curls a cross into Llorente, whose touch is bum. Herrera cleans up and United start passing.

1 min Techno, techno, techno, techno.

Swansea will “bank-up”, says Glenn Hoddle. I’ve not heard that phrase before.

Out they saunter; David de Gea has come dressed as a Peaky Blinder.

The players are in tunnel; Dean Saunders thinks Swansea will win 2-1, both goals from Llorente.

“Bit harsh discounting Ayew already and assuming the Swans are playing 4-3-1-1 from the off,” snarks Jón Kristján Rögnvaldsson.

Dean Saunders just said he reckons they’ll play 4-6-0, which by our reckoning makes it a 4-4-0.

Incidentally, Dean Saunders began BT’s broadcast by praising today’s games that are on Sky. It’s funny really, well, it’s not funny at all, but in most circumstances, a monopoly is a bad thing. But people who want to watch televised sport now need to buy two expensive channels, thanks to a historical telecoms monopoly. Lovely stuff.

Clement says he’s picked Leon Britton for his calmness and leadership; also Leroy Fer isn’t that fit.

Swansea’s French manager Paul Clement knows that Swansea only have four games left and wants his team to do their best against a good team in a nice stadium. It’s stirring stuff.

I wonder if it’ll be Herrera who picks up Sigurdsson. He’s certainly the player United will have to watch most closely, especially as he’ll not be confined to a flank.

On BT, we’re seeing that Herrera leads the league’s midfielders for tackles, assists and interceptions. What an absolute nauseation for him that he spent two seasons being dissed by Louis van Gaal. Generals are hard to find these days, but he is one, and also a decent candidate for club captain next season.

Poor Mourinho. He begins his pre-match interview with fixture-related gripes, also noting that Shaw, Rooney, Lingard and Young are fresh, then congratulates himself that United are still in the hunt for fourth place and the Europa League.

Of course, the reason United keep being awarded last chances is that the teams above them are incompetent flakes. Even if they don’t win today, you’d not put very much on Liverpool winning at Vicarage Road tomorrow night - though given United’s remaining fixtures, failure might be one misstep too many.

So, what does it all mean? Well, United go with those same poor centre-back who keep being asked to play centre-back, and opt for attacking menace outside them. The midfield picks itself, with Rooney replacing Fellaini in the chugging and indignance role, while up front Mkhitaryan is once again punished for an anonymous display, Lingard coming in for him. On the bench is Juan Mata, back after a groin operation.

Swansea make one change, with Ki replacing Fer. Presumably they’ll look to defend deep, then fling men forward on the counter.