The Match
Southampton are a team high on confidence right now. Good early season results see them sitting in sixth place, having only lost one game all season. Pochettino has instilled a "never say die" attitude at St Mary's which is a bit reminiscent of how Manchester United have operated in the last twenty years, and they'll be confident of a result at home to a Swansea team who were occupied by European exploits just three nights prior to this matchup.
Swansea got back to winning ways on Thursday despite the best efforts of bumbling Portuguese referee Duarte Gomes, and they'll need to play with the same grit and determination they displayed in that encounter if they're to get anything out of this one. With a couple of injury worries, it's likely that other than enforced changes Laudrup will revert to what he considers as much of a "first XI" as he can muster, and he'll be hoping to pick up a confidence-boosting win before we head into the two week international break.
Prior Form (Most recent at top)
Team News - provided by Physioroom.com's Ben Dinnery
Swansea City travel to St Marys this weekend to take on Southampton in the early afternoon kick-off on Sunday. Jacks fans will be sweating on the fitness of a number of key players heading into this fixture, none more so than forward Michu who was left needing stitches after a nasty looking head injury in Thursday nights’ Europa League win over St. Gallen. However the good news is the Spanish playmaker is expected to be fine.
Michael Laudrup must make a decision on whether to risk Pablo Hernandez, despite training for over a week the boss does want a recurrence of the hamstring injury which has kept him out for almost a month. Ashley Williams is expected to miss out with an on-going ankle ligament problem, rest and recovery will be the best remedy for the big defender but with his recent call-up to the Welsh national side expect a “club versus country” row to erupt very soon. Watch this space!
Finally, full-back Angel Rangel could be in contention having just missed out midweek, the defender has an ankle injury but was seen training by himself on Thursday suggesting a return is not far away.
For Southampton and manager Pochettino their injury status is looking pretty healthy at the moment with the Italian having the luxury of an almost fully fit squad. Full-back Luke Shaw is the only doubt because of illness.
Michael Laudrup must make a decision on whether to risk Pablo Hernandez, despite training for over a week the boss does want a recurrence of the hamstring injury which has kept him out for almost a month. Ashley Williams is expected to miss out with an on-going ankle ligament problem, rest and recovery will be the best remedy for the big defender but with his recent call-up to the Welsh national side expect a “club versus country” row to erupt very soon. Watch this space!
Finally, full-back Angel Rangel could be in contention having just missed out midweek, the defender has an ankle injury but was seen training by himself on Thursday suggesting a return is not far away.
For Southampton and manager Pochettino their injury status is looking pretty healthy at the moment with the Italian having the luxury of an almost fully fit squad. Full-back Luke Shaw is the only doubt because of illness.
Completely guessed lineups
Statistics & Trivia
- With only seven goals scored in six matches featuring Southampton, games involving the Saints have produced the least goals per game of any team.
- They've only conceded two goals so far, and as such no team has put more than a single goal past their defence.
- The Swans' last victory at Southampton was a 4-1 win in March of 1953.
- A clean sheet for Southampton would mark the first time they've not conceded in four games for ten years.
- The last time Saints conceded two goals in their opening seven games (which they'll achieve with a clean sheet against the Swans) they went on to finish second in the league (behind Liverpool in the early eighties).
- Conversely, a Swans win would mark the first time we've won three Premier League away games on the trot.
- Southampton are tied as conceding the most fouls so far this season, but have picked up the least cards. Go figure.
- Saints are yet to score in the first half of a match this season.
- The Saints have allowed a league-low 14 shots on target in their six Premier League games so far this season.
- They've also only scored one goal from open play.
- Swansea have lost all three games this season in which we've conceded the opening goal.
Straight from the horse's mouth
Swansea manager Michael Laudrup said he thinks Southampton are "the best of the rest", when asked about Southampton's claims to be aiming for a top-four finish:
"It's always good to be ambitious but, of course, I think there are better teams than that. I like the team they have. It's a team who can be in the top 10. Those spots - eight, nine and 10 - are the maximum for them and us in terms of what we can go for.
"I still believe you have all the big sides. The Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton. That's seven. In my opinion, the rest of us play for eighth position and down."
"We have to take things step by step. We've had a very difficult start. We've played some of the top four and the big teams in the first six games, but this is a good test for us on Sunday because Southampton is absolutely one of the best teams of the rest.
"It will be a tough test for us."
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/8957697?
Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino thinks comparisons can be drawn between his and Laudrup's coaching style:
'I faced against Michael Laudrup as a player and a manager in Spain. As managers, we share a simple philosophy about how our teams play,'
'Swansea have had enough time to recover from their Europa League match. We expect them to be a very competitive side.
'Every manager is different, every club has their own brand of football. Swansea are playing very good attractive and attacking football.'
Read more: link
Analysis
This is going to be a tough one. At present, the Saints are most definitely marching on and the Swans will have to be at our robust best to stop a team which includes the formidable midfield pairing of Wanyama & Schneiderlin. Those two form, for me, one of the most scary-looking midfield duos in the Premier League at the moment, and I hope Jose Canas fancies a rumble as he's definitely going to get one. Jonjo Shelvey, too, will need to keep a cool head as he's definitely going to be getting in-your-face treatment for the entirety of the match.
I know I've kept banging on about it, but we miss Ash so much. A match like this, I fear, will show how much of a leader of men he's become as without him I think we do always look shaky at the back. The win on Thursday was gritty and a big encouraging step forward, however we did manage to give away a penalty and St Gallen also had numerous other opportunities which they failed to capitalise on - Southampton aren't likely to be so forgiving and with Osvaldo and Lambert both netting their first goals from open play last weekend they're both likely to be in confident moods.
I'm not confident about how much we're going to be able to get in behind at St Mary's. In Lovren they've got a hell of a defender, and the league-low "shots allowed" stat shows how effective they've been in maintaining an organised defensive structure so far this season - I think we're going to have to rely on a bit of individual magic from Bony or Michu and make sure that the rest of the time we keep our shape and don't give away silly free-kicks. They've got some height to their team so I don't fancy our chances if we come under siege from a maintained aerial bombardment.
If we can maintain possession early on, and look to feed Wilfried Bony (who at times has cut an isolated figure) I think we can get something out of this. All the stats seem to point to a 0-0, but I think someone will crack under the tactical pressure there's sure to be in this matchup and there'll be an early goal either way. Let's hope it goes our way and that we can use it to push on and continue our fine away form, which has seen us win our last two matches away from the Liberty whilst also keeping clean sheets to boot. That would be nice, wouldn't it?
I know I've kept banging on about it, but we miss Ash so much. A match like this, I fear, will show how much of a leader of men he's become as without him I think we do always look shaky at the back. The win on Thursday was gritty and a big encouraging step forward, however we did manage to give away a penalty and St Gallen also had numerous other opportunities which they failed to capitalise on - Southampton aren't likely to be so forgiving and with Osvaldo and Lambert both netting their first goals from open play last weekend they're both likely to be in confident moods.
I'm not confident about how much we're going to be able to get in behind at St Mary's. In Lovren they've got a hell of a defender, and the league-low "shots allowed" stat shows how effective they've been in maintaining an organised defensive structure so far this season - I think we're going to have to rely on a bit of individual magic from Bony or Michu and make sure that the rest of the time we keep our shape and don't give away silly free-kicks. They've got some height to their team so I don't fancy our chances if we come under siege from a maintained aerial bombardment.
If we can maintain possession early on, and look to feed Wilfried Bony (who at times has cut an isolated figure) I think we can get something out of this. All the stats seem to point to a 0-0, but I think someone will crack under the tactical pressure there's sure to be in this matchup and there'll be an early goal either way. Let's hope it goes our way and that we can use it to push on and continue our fine away form, which has seen us win our last two matches away from the Liberty whilst also keeping clean sheets to boot. That would be nice, wouldn't it?