The Match
Swansea will be hoping to build on a good showing at West Brom with their first league win of the season, against a much fancied Liverpool side. They've shown enough in their early-season encounters so that fans will be hopeful of a result against Brendan Rodgers' men, and with the majority of the squad not having featured in midweek internationals the squad should be refreshed and chomping at the bit to get back on the field, so expect a high-octane performance.
Liverpool are starting to look like they understand what Brendan Rodgers wants from his side, and if they avoid defeat against the Swans they'll go back to the top of the Premier League, so they've got serious motivation heading into this one. With Daniel Sturridge finding top form and Luis Suarez soon to return to the side it's likely they're going to enjoy a very successful season, and if they can add a few goals to the mix (they've won all three PL games so far 1-0) they'll be a very dangerous outfit indeed.
Prior Form (Most recent at top)
Premier League West Brom 0 - 2 Swansea
Europa League Petrolul Ploiesti 2 - 1 Swansea
Premier League Tottenham 1 - 0 Swansea
Europa League Swansea 5 - 1 Petrolul Ploiesti
Premier League Swansea 1 - 4 Manchester United
Premier League Liverpool 1 - 0 Man Utd
League Cup Liverpool 4 - 2 Notts County
Premier League Aston Villa 0 - 1 Liverpool
Premier League Liverpool 1 - 0 Stoke
Friendly Celtic 1 - 0 Liverpool
Team News - Provided by Physioroom.com's Ben Dinnery
Swansea have been boosted by the news that new-signing Jonjo Shelvey will be available for the visit of Liverpool, the £5 million man has recovered from the knee problem which forced his withdrawal from the recent U21 Internationals. Michael Laudrup will also welcome back Nathan Dyer, the midfielder having missed the previous two games with a hamstring injury. However one player who won’t play any part is full-back Neil Taylor, the defender is not expected back for a couple of weeks after suffering complications following a dead leg.
One of the biggest talking points of this weekend is the availability of Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge, the England forward missed both of ‘The Three Lions’ World Cup Qualifiers due an on-going thigh problem and is currently considered a doubt for Monday Night Football. Sturridge, in a rich vein of goal-scoring form and recent winner of the Barclays Player of the Month Award may just benefit from the extra days rest to force himself into Rodgers plans. The Liverpool manager will also need to make a decision on whether to include Kolo Toure for the trip to Swansea. The central defender picked up a groin injury on Capital One duty but has now recovered and will be pushing for a return after impressing in his opening two Premier League games. Martin Skrtel could be the unfortunate man to make way despite a solid performance at Old Trafford.
Full-back Glen Johnson will miss out however having picked up a nasty ankle injury in the goal-less draw at Manchester United and new signing Aly Cissokho is another definite absentee. The French defender lasted only 9 minutes of his full-debut before an ankle ligament injury ended his day. Initial reports suggest around 5 weeks for the pair with a return possible for the Newcastle game in October. Welshman Joe Allen will be included in the Liverpool match-day squad having recovered from a slight hamstring problem.
Completely guessed lineups
Statistics & Trivia
- Liverpool are one win away from their 400th in the Premier League.
- Liverpool have never won and kept clean sheets in their first three top-flight games, while they've never won their first four Premier League games, which they'd achieve by beating the Swans.
- Swansea's last home win came back in March against Newcastle in the wake of the League Cup win.
- Jose Canas is second only to Yaya Toure so far this season in terms of passes attempted (235 & 267 respectively).
- With 33 clearances, Chico has made the joint most in the league.
- Daniel Sturridge has scored 11 goals in his last 9 games for Liverpool.
- Along with Robbie Fowler, Sturridge is the only other Liverpool player to score in the first three matches of a PL season.
- Liverpool have kept clean sheets in six of their last seven league matches.
Straight from the horse's mouth
Analysis
Coming into this game I'm less confident than I was ahead of the Spurs and Manchester United games. Despite a quality showing at West Brom, we need to "revert to type" to a point and look to retain possession and build from the back. Once we've got the team playing fluidly, the chances will come and it's important for the team to acknowledge how much our continued top-flight status owes to our possession game.
Even though West Brom looked a shadow of the team of last year, we showed enough to believe that those elusive wins are just around the corner, and that continued belief in Laudrup's footballing philosophy is well-founded. We finished the game having had 58% of the possession, and it's no surprise that our first win in a while coincided with our best showing in terms of ball retention so far. While we have an increasingly talented crop of players at our disposal everything we've achieved so far has been based around our team game, and I feel we've gone away from that somewhat to a game which relies more on individual skill and less on keeping play ticking over by retaining possession at the back.
For their part, Liverpool have, of late, been doing exactly what I've just spent two paragraphs banging on about. Buck has got them playing how he wants, and it'll be interesting to see how Luis Suarez fits in when he eventually returns from his suspension. They've been playing solidly and in Simon Mignolet they've got a quality keeper who'll help keep a lot of clean sheets this season. At the back Glen Johnson is out so the Swans will no doubt look to get at Andre Wisdom early on, and see what the youngster's made of. Bony will have some formidable defenders to get past - Rodgers could pick from Skrtel, Agger, Sakho or Toure. With defensive options like that to choose from whoever we pick up top will have a tough time getting past the Liverpool defence.
In midfield it's really hard to say who Laudrup will pick in the "anchor" position. I can't see him dropping Jonjo Shelvey, and with Michu and Bony surely starting that leaves just one central midfield position to play for. I'd hope it's Leon Britton that wins that particular race, but with Canas impressing from the off its more than possible he'll get the nod. With Sturridge expected to lead the line for Liverpool with one-time Swansea target Aspas and Coutinho supporting him, the Swans' defence will have to be on their guard from the word go, otherwise we will be punished. Fix up, look sharp, as it were.
While I do have confidence in the team, especially so given the performances thus far of our new signings, I'm not confident of a win here. I think a realistic result would be a one-all draw, and I think that's a result Laudrup would be happy with. It'll be an interesting clash of football styles, and an opportunity to assess how far we've drifted from Brendan's style of football.
Jonjo Shelvey to score the winner from 35 yards? Hmm...
To listen to a podcast preview of the game featuring myself and Max Munton of ThisIsAnfield, click here:
http://www.theswanseaway.co.uk/2013/09/podcast-swansea-v-liverpool-match.html