The Match
Kuban seem to have turned things around since appointing new manager Viktor Goncharenko. Since a defeat in his first game in charge, he's turned things around and after the 1-1 draw at the Liberty a few weeks ago they've gone on to win their next two league games, the latter of which was a victory over their local rivals (Oh how we wish we could say that about the Swans) while they only lost their cup game on penalties. Expect Kuban to be even more fired up than they were in South Wales, and for them to be showing more signs of confidence than they did at the Liberty.
Swansea are still entrenched in a poor run of form which is threatening to derail their season unless it's addressed soon. The 4-0 win over Sunderland now seems a long time ago and more worryingly than the results, the level of performance simply hasn't been good enough. Hopefully Laudrup can mastermind a second away win in the group stages, which will more or less guarantee the Swans entry into the next round of the competition. A loss would see the Valencia home game becoming far more make or break, so we need to grasp this opportunity for three points with both hands if we're serious about progressing further in this competition.
Prior Form (Most recent at top)
Swansea Team News
Swansea should have Ben Davies available after he travelled with the squad, but Jonjo Shelvey misses out due to family reasons. Michu looks like he'll be out for a month while Pablo remains out with an injury he picked up ahead of the West Ham game.
Statistics & Trivia
- Six of Kuban's last seven games have witnessed more goals after the break.
- Kuban are one of four sides in the group stage who are debuting in European competition along with Wigan, CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu and Estoril Praia.
- Swansea took twenty four free-kicks over the first three matchdays – more than any other club in this season's group stage.
- Despite playing in English football between 2004 and 2013, Cissé’s only encounter with Swansea prior to matchday three was a humiliating 5-0 home defeat for QPR against Michael Laudrup's side on the first day of the 2012/13.
- Krasnodar kicked off their maiden European campaign with four straight wins in qualifying, eliminating Motherwell FC and Feyenoord on their way to the group stage.