Swansea City v Southampton Match Preview, Team News, Analysis & More

                         

      Swansea City   vs   Southampton
            Barclays Premier League

Saturday 20/04/13

15:00pm K.O.

Liberty Stadium

Referee: Phil Dowd

The Match

Swansea will take to the field against Southampton looking for their first win since the beginning of March. Since winning the Capital One Cup, the Swans have only picked up four points in five games and Laudrup knows a win will help reinvigorate his side as they look to push as high up the table as possible. Last time out against Southampton the game ended in a 1-1 draw, but Swansea must be looking at this as a winnable game, given that their next two fixtures are against Man City & Chelsea.

Morgan Schneiderlin scores for Saints against the Swans
earlier in the season.

Southampton have enjoyed a great run of form of late. Home wins over Chelsea and Liverpool have come in the middle of a run which has seen them go six games unbeaten, and there won't be too many fans left doubting Mauricio Pochettino as they find themselves sitting in 12th place in the league, 3 points (and 3 places) below the Swans. Like many football fans, I felt a sense of disgust when Nigel Adkins was dismissed and replaced by Pochettino, but even though Adkins looked likely to keep Saints up it does seem that they have improved under their new manager, especially over the last month. A win over the Swans could see them move into the top half of the table, and a top-ten finish would no doubt be treated as an excellent achievement for a side who were probably expecting to be scrapping it out in a relegation dogfight come the end of the season.

Prior Form (most recent at top)

Premier League                Norwich          2 - 2  Swansea
Premier League                Swansea       1 - 2  Tottenham
Premier League                Swansea       0 - 2   Arsenal        

Premier League                West Brom     2 - 1  Swansea

Premier League                Swansea       1 - 0  Newcastle
            

Premier League                Southampton  1 - 1  West Ham
Premier League                Reading            0 - 2  Southampton
Premier League                Southampton  2 - 1  Chelsea        

Premier League                Southmpton    3 - 1  Liverpool
Premier League                Norwich            0 - 0  Southampton

Team News

Swansea have almost a fully-fit squad to choose from. Neil Taylor could feature after a remarkably quick comeback from his horrific ankle injury, while Leon is available after missing the Norwich game due to the birth of his twin sons.

Southampton have Artur Boruc available again after he missed their last game due to an investigation into an incident where he'd apparently had an altercation with some home fans; the 'keeper has seemingly been cleared of any wrongdoing so will be in the matchday squad. Captain Kelvin Davis is a doubt after picking up a knock in training, while Guly Do Prado is likely to miss out with a fever; Jay Rodriguez, Luke Shaw & Jason Puncheon had also been suffering the effects of the virus but have been given the all clear for the club's trip to South Wales.

Trivia - "Courtesy" of Opta, the BBC and various other sites;

• The Swans average almost two goals a game when playing Southampton at home

• Southampton have not won at Swansea since a 1-0 victory in 1962 in the old Division Two.

• This is the 60th meeting between the sides. Southampton have won 27 times, Swansea 18 and there have been 14 draws.

• Leon Britton is set to make his 400th league appearance.

• While Michu has been grabbing headlines, Ricky Lambert has 14 league goals and is the Premier League's top scoring Englishman. 

• Southampton have thrown away more points (29) from winning positions this season than any other team in the top flight.
• In their last 20 home games against teams positioned below them in the table, Swansea have won 12, drawn 8 and lost 0 of these matches.
•  In their last 20 away games, Southampton have won 0, drawn 4 and lost 8 matches against teams positioned above them in the table.
• Southampton have scored in 80% of their last 20 away games.

• Michu has scored a higher percentage of his team's goals than any other player in the Premier League (39%).

Completely guessed lineups

Straight from the "horse's mouth";

Michael Laudrup is clearly after three points, and had some nice things to say about the new Saints boss:

Michael Laudrup. Genial.

"We have six games to go and Saturday is a key game. 

"We have been in the top 10 for a number of weeks now and if we want to stay 
there we need a win on Saturday, particularly with the games we have after that. Beating the big teams is a bonus, but I'd prefer to beat the teams that are our direct rivals. I believe that if we win on Saturday then we will finish in the top 10. 

"He did great at Espanyol as both a player and a manager. When you go to a new country and a new culture, it is always difficult. But he is doing well at Southampton. 

"They have done well recently after getting some important results against the big teams."

Mauricio Pochettino was asked in the week about the possibility of a top-ten finish:

"What I really want to do is win the game on Saturday, which we all do as a team," the Saints manager said. I think if we're able to do that then we'll be able to do that (finish in the top 10), but first of all we need to play the game. Second of all we need to be better than them and third of all we have to score the goals in order to be able to win the game and get the three points that we really want. 

Saints boss Pochettino. Pensive.

"Our energy cannot be really focused on what might happen. We need to focus on the present, the here and now, what is tangible. What is tangible now is getting three points, always training to compete, always training to win and competing to win as well. If we do that, we will be all right but again our focus has to be on something that is real rather than something that might happen. 

"Also overall, our minds have to be focused in a positive way. It is a normal human condition that we think about negative things, that we consider negative thoughts, but why not think about the positives - the good things that might happen? We just have got to focus on doing positive things for ourselves and always try to win games and play and compete in a positive manner."

He went on to state Southampton are trying to instill a similar playing style to the Swans:

"First of all, I want to congratulate Swansea because they have won silverware this season. Of course, I know Laudrup from playing and managing in Spain so I am aware of his qualities - he is a very good manager and has been progressing Swansea. I was reading an interview with him in a Spanish newspaper, where he said that the managers before him in Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez meant Swansea had been playing under the same philosophy for some time now. 

"Swansea's brand of football is quite established, and their way of playing is quite similar to what we're trying to do here at Southampton. I do think that we play with qualities from the English game, but we add to that with our experience of formations and education as continental managers."

Analysis

I've been really impressed by the football Southampton have been playing of late, and I'm a big fan of Ricky Lambert up top. I know it's clichéd but he does seem the traditional centre-forward, and Ashley Williams and Chico Flores will no doubt have to be on top of the game if they're to stop him adding to his already impressive tally. Jay Rodriguez has hit some form too, with three in his last four (including goals against both Chelsea & Liverpool) and with Adam Lallana likely to feature too, the Saints forward line is more than capable of causing the Swans' back four problems.

The return of Leon will be crucial I feel - any time he's not in the team it seems we don't play with the same rhythm. Leon has become the Swans metronome in the centre of midfield, dictating the pace of the game from in front of the back four, and with a milestone 400th league appearance likely he'll be looking to impress after missing the Norwich game. Another player possibly looking to prove a point is Michu. Snubbed by the panel for Player of the Year, the languid Spaniard seemed, to me, like he's coming into a bit of form and hopefully that'll work in the Swans favour tomorrow.

Over the last few games all of the statistics seemed to indicate a deluge of goals and, while that hasn't quite been the case my against-the-grain predictions of 0-0 and 1-0 proved far from the mark. Both teams are playing attractive football and it's almost certain we'll see some goals tomorrow, in what should prove to be the proverbial "feast of football". Fingers crossed eh. Despite the fact that Southampton are currently enjoying a much better run of form than the Swans, it's more than possible that we could be celebrating a home win come 90 minutes. I'm going to go 3-2 to the Swans. Goals goals goals...

Iechyd Da.