The Match
Swansea lost 3-0 to Man City in their last outing, but are likely to have drawn some confidence from the performance as they showed in spells they're still capable of using their football to mix it with the big boys. Despite Newcastle winning their last four games the Swans will be hopeful of claiming a positive result in front of their own fans, but they have a couple of injuries to contend with so it'll likely be up to Alvaro Vazquez to lead the line. The on-loan Spanish striker has been in the press saying how he wants to stay in SA1 after his loan expires, but he'll have to make more of an impression than he has so far if he's to persuade the powers that be to open the purse-strings and make his move permanent.
Newcastle are the team that keep confounding critics. Every time it looks like Pardew may be in danger of overseeing a catastrophic collapse, he pulls something out of the bag which silences naysayers - for the time being at least. I don't think you can knock how well he's done since being appointed Newcastle boss, and in Loic Remy they have a real dangerman who the Swans will have to watch out for if they want to keep a clean sheet. Currently flying high in the Premier League, a win for the Magpies could see them rise to third in the table (if other results go their way), so they'll have plenty of motivation heading into this one.
Prior Form (Most recent at top)
Team News - provided by Physioroom.com's Ben Dinnery
Swansea will be hoping to bounce back at The Liberty Stadium on Wednesday after Sunday's defeat & Michael Laudrup could potentially have a number of key first-team players back amongst the ranks to bolster The Jacks squad. Goalkeeper Michel Vorm has been struggling in recent weeks with an ongoing knee problem but is expected to be available, the consensus however is that Gerhard Tremmel will start - keeping the Dutchman fresh for next Monday's SkySports live game against Hull City. Midfielder Leon Britton (toe) is expected to return but Michu could just miss out; the Spaniard is recovering from an ankle ligament injury. Full-back Angel Rangel is out for between 2-3 weeks with a slight calf strain while there was better news for striker Wilfried Bony (hamstring). A scan revealed only a minor tear which could see him back within the next 10-14 days.
For Newcastle United things couldn’t be much better, with the Magpies performing well both on & off the field. Alan Pardew commented that a recent training session “was the best in his current tenure both in terms of player availability and the quality of football played”. With no fresh injury concerns Pardew added “he could pick two teams” which is testament to the hard-work during pre-season. Ryan Taylor is the only absentee due to a long-term ACL injury - the unfortunate full-back is hopeful for a return at the beginning of the 2014/15 season.
Completely guessed lineups
Statistics & Trivia
- Loic Remy has scored eight goals so far this season, and is third top scorer in the Premiership.
- Swansea have won just one of their last five league games.
- The last time Swansea played Newcastle at the Liberty stadium, they won 1-0.
- Swansea City have won just one of their last 11 league matches at the Liberty Stadium (W1 D5 L5).
- Newcastle have alternated between wins and defeats in their last seven league away games (W4 D3).
- Newcastle United have won just five of their last 26 (W5 D7 L14) away from home in the Premier League.
- Three of the four goals scored in the league meetings between these sides last season were netted in the 85th minute or later.
- Of the 10 players to have scored more than five PL goals this season, only Aaron Ramsey (33.3%) and Romelu Lukaku (36.4%) have a better shot conversion rate than Remy (29.6%).
- Yoann Gouffran has scored in three of his last four Premier League appearances, while he assisted a goal in the other appearance during this run.
- Only Fulham (4) have picked up fewer home points than Swansea (6) this season.
- 18 of Newcastle's 19 Premier League goals this season have been scored by Frenchmen.
- Newcastle can match Arsenal's 2013-14 record of five consecutive PL wins if they take all three points in Swansea.
Straight from the horse's mouth
Ashley Williams thinks that, while they could be playing better, it's not as bad as people are making out:
"We're doing okay this season. A lot has been said [about the form] and people are thinking that it's all doom and gloom. When you lose to Cardiff, it feels like that for everyone involved, but we're doing similarly to last season and we just need to kick on a little bit.
"We've had injuries to Michu, Bony, Angel and Michel (Vorm) who are top and big players for us and that doesn't help. Now we've got three important league games coming up and we need to collect points in those games."
http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Ashley-Williams-demands-Swansea-City-ahead/story-20251874-detail/story.html#ixzz2mP2xDqk3
Wayne Routledge thinks despite Newcastle's good form the Swans are capable of a result:
“When they put it together they are capable of beating anyone, you only have to look at their recent results to see that, but we are the home team and it’s up to us to take the game to them and hopefully get a positive result.”
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/wayne-routledge-urges-show-strength-6365879?
Analysis
Despite Newcastle's good form, this game has a distinctly winnable feel to it. Whether that's to do with previous good results against the team from the North East, or if it's based more on the periods of matches where we've played well in recent weeks I don't know, but I do feel that we'll get the three points here - even without either of our first-choice forwards available.
Newcastle are perhaps looking at the Swans and thinking that, like when they were involved, the Europa League is taking it's toll on the Swansea squad but the truth is that in general our squad has coped quite well - you can't account for both your strikers getting injured at the same time and for a club our size that's always going to be something we'll just have to deal with when it happens. As far as the engine-room goes though, tired legs shouldn't be a problem. Leon should return, and whoever is picked alongside him shouldn't be able to complain about fatigue as we've seen heavy, heavy rotation up until now.
There are, however, a couple of serious stumbling blocks to get over if we're to get the win. Namely, Yohan Cabaye and Cheik Tiote. The midfielders have given us a tough time before and I'm a massive fan of the pair of them. With Moussa Sissoko ending his goal drought (and how), whoever lines up in the centre for the Swans will need to work their behinds off if we're to come away with anything.
Dwight Tiendalli needs a big game. He's likely to be up against Yoan Gouffran, who can definitely do damage if given the chance. I massively rated Tiendalli last season, but he has been below par on a number of occasions so far this season and I'm sure he'd admit to that. Hopefully he'll rediscover the form which had me occasionally preferring him to Rangel - plus, I do like having the option of playing both (one in front of each other) if we're really looking to contain someone.
Alvaro had a pretty anonymous time of it against Man City, but he seems set to get another start with Michu unlikely to be risked. I've seen videos of him scoring screamers - it seems his goals are spectacular but few and far between. At the other end, Newcastle have Loic Remy banging in goals. It seems stumping up the cash for his wages is paying off with the Toon riding high in the table, and Ash & Chico will have to watch very, very closely else they get punished by the Frenchman.
If we don't take midfield seriously here, we'll get outmuscled. Newcastle are at full strength, and have the players to do damage, so we have to run the game. I can easily see us having lots of possession, but if we don't take our chances, we'll have no-one to blame but ourselves. More importantly however, we won't win the game. Still though, I'm confident and expectant. Swansea to win.