The Match
Petrolul will be looking to put in a professional shift in front of their home fans, but in truth all but their most deluded of fans will have foregone any kind of hope that was once attached to this fixture given the manner of the first leg's defeat. While their league form remains solid (another win this weekend saw them climb to third and remain unbeaten after six games) overturning a four goal deficit will surely be too much to ask.
Swansea have some injury worries to contend with for the first time this season, while they also have one eye on the West Brom game this weekend. It's likely we'll see heavy rotation with a number of players nursing problems, but they'll still be looking to put in a shift and come away with a win which will breed confidence - and given we're still chasing our first points in the league games like this offer an invaluable opportunity to build momentum when otherwise we'd still be licking our wounds until the next league fixture.
Prior Form (Most recent at top)
Liga I Astra Giurgiu 1 - 2 Petrolul Ploieşti
Europa League Swansea 5 - 1 Petrolul Ploiesti
Liga I Petrolul Ploieşti 1 - 1 Ceahlăul PiatrLiga I Oţelul Galaţi 1 - 2 Petrolul Ploieşti
Europa League Vitesse 1 - 2 Petrolul Ploieşti
Premier League Tottenham 1 - 0 Swansea
Europa League Swansea 5 - 1 Petrolul Ploiesti
Premier League Swansea 1 - 4 Manchester United
Europa League Malmö FF 0 - 0 Swansea
Europa League Swansea 4 - 0 Malmö FF
Team News
Petrolul, according to the internet, will only be without midfielder Laurentiu Marinescu - out for a while with a cruciate injury. Romanian football websites don't provide too much information if I'm honest...
Swansea have got a number of doubts, to the point where Ashley Williams (knee), Jonjo Shelvey (knee) and Wilfried Bony (ankle) will miss the trip to Romania. Hopefully they're all precautionary moves, and there seems to be some hope they'll all be available for this weekend's PL match. Nathan Dyer remains out with a hamstring injury while Neil Taylor faces a few weeks on the sidelines after suffering a haematoma (severe bruising) on his thigh.
Completely guessed lineups
As for Petrolul, last time out they went with a lineup of: Pecanha, Geraldo, Benga, Guilherme, Achim, Grozav, Boudjemaa, Hoban, Filipe Teixeira, Mustivar, Younes. I'd be lying if I said I knew enough about them to make any kind of predictions as to what team they'll put out but as I'm guessing they put out a first choice team in the first leg, so it's hard to imagine the team differing too much.
Statistics & Trivia
- Swansea are unbeaten in the Europa League so far (W2 D1), while Petrolul's 5-1 defeat to the Swans was their first in the competition.
- Petrolul Ploiesti have scored in 5 consecutive matches in the Europa League.
- So far the Swans have scored 9 goals in the competition, conceding just one.
- Despite re-signing for the Swans, Dwight Tiendalli hasn't made the squad for tonight's match.
- Petrolul have scored in all of their matches this season.
- Petrolul have scored most of their goals between the 76th and 90th minutes this season.
- A win for the Swans will see them progress to the group stages of the competition, where they could face any number of illustrious opponents.
Straight from the horse's mouth
Swansea midfielder (and captain for the night) Leon Britton feels the squad appreciate the need to put on a professional display of football:
"I will not need to say too much. All the lads know that the job is only half done, so we have got to be professional. It is similar to when we went to Malmo in the previous round. We were 4-0 up from the first leg, but we were very professional throughout the 90 minutes and we came away with a positive result.
"We are 5-1 up this time, but we want to do the same sort of thing again. The competition in the squad is very intense and, for all the lads who are here, this is an opportunity to impress the manager and to grab the shirt. We are not there yet [the group stages], but it would be fantastic if we could get through to the groups. That was the target for us and, if we get there, we will have another six European games to look forward to.
"There will be some big teams in the draw for the groups, and it will be great for the football club if we are in there, and it is the same for the players. A lot of us have never played at this level before, and it would be great to test ourselves against some top-quality sides." Leon Britton
Quotes taken from http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/story-19720553-detail/story.html?#ixzz2dM0nFG8j
1st Leg Highlights
Analysis
Firstly, does anyone find it interesting that three of the players who featured in international fixtures prior to the season opener against United are missing out with niggly injuries? It seems that despite the early stage of the season we're already paying the price of a hectic fixture list, but hopefully Jonjo, Ash & Wilfried Bony will all be fine by the time we travel to West Brom.
Given the likelihood we're to see a much-changed Swansea XI a lot of people would take that at face value, and expect it to mean we'll be less competitive. Not so. Leon Britton is set to start in midfield and in a game like this he will absolutely run the show. He did it last time out, and my one concern is that if he's starting tonight he won't be featuring against West Brom. That's a worry to me, but it's also a rant for another time.
Expect the Swans to retain possession from the off, and for Jordi Amat to look like a classy operator in defence alongside his compatriot Chico Flores. They'll look to keep out Gheorghe Grazov, who scored that goal late on last time around. Hopefully there'll be no repeat of that this time. Interestingly, if you want to back the same 5-1 scoreline that we finished with last time (to the Swans) you can do so at 100-1! Seems a bit long! You never know...
Honesty? I'm pretty confident about this game. I'll go with either 0-0 or a big Swans win, and for Leon to get MOTM. You heard it here first.