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The Match
Swansea are enjoying an up and down time of it so far. Four excellent performances in a row had fans waxing lyrical, before defeat to Birmingham in the League Cup was followed up by a home loss to Arsenal. The latter isn't something to be sniffed at though, and it was only a momentary lapse in concentration which proved the difference between the two teams, so the Swans will be looking to forget the fact they haven't won at home in the league since March and concentrate on the fact that so far in two home Europa League games they've scored nine goals. That's a much more positive outlook, eh?
St Gallen are proving tricky customers in the Swiss Super League so far this season. Short on goals but stingy in defence, they're sitting in fourth position with a game in hand on the leaders, and they're only four points off top spot. Since losing their opening two league games, they've gone unbeaten in twelve in all competitions, so this isn't going to be a walk in the park. You can "bank" (ha! Swiss joke...) on St Gallen being a team high on confidence and their ability to knuckle down and grind out results could yet see them spring some shocks in this competition.
Prior Form (Most recent at top)
Team News
Swansea could welcome Pablo Hernandez back after a few weeks out with a hamstring injury he picked up prior to the Valencia game. Roland Lamah is out with a toe injury, while Neil Taylor should also be fully fit now after featuring against Birmingham in the League Cup. Angel Rangel is a doubt with an ankle injury which kept him out of the Arsenal game (and faces a late fitness test), but Ashley Williams is unlikely to feature as he's still struggling with his own ankle injury. He played through the pain barrier against Palace and it seems his availability is set to cause a bit of a club vs country row. Given there's only two teams in Wales playing at any kind of high level, you'd think the FAW and Coleman would be looking to appease them as much as possible. Burn your bridges with the South Walian clubs and you'll find yourself in a bit of trouble, Cookie...
St Gallen will be without Sven Lehmann who has a fracture of his tibia. Ilija Ivic is a long term absentee with a cruciate tear, while Dzengis Cavusevic did his cruciate ligament more recently than his team-mate and will also be on the sidelines for the foreseeable future.
St Gallen will be without Sven Lehmann who has a fracture of his tibia. Ilija Ivic is a long term absentee with a cruciate tear, while Dzengis Cavusevic did his cruciate ligament more recently than his team-mate and will also be on the sidelines for the foreseeable future.
Completely guessed lineups
| Swansea City | St Gallen | |
| Vorm | D. Lopar | |
| Tiendalli | S. Besle | |
| Chico | M. Mutsch | |
| Amat | P. Montandon | |
| Davies | I. Martic | |
| Britton | K. Nushi | |
| Canas | M. Mathys | |
| Michu | S. Nater | |
| Pozuelo | S. Wüthrich | |
| Routledge | E. Lenjani | |
| Bony | G. Karanović |
Statistics & Trivia
- Since losing their opening league games, St Gallen have gone 12 games unbeaten in all competitions.
- Despite lying fourth of ten teams in the Swiss Super League, St Gallen are the third lowest scorers (11 goals in 9 games).
- They do, however, have the second best defence, only conceding 7 goals in those 9 games, and have kept five clean sheets.
- Striker Goran Karanovic already has nine goals in all competitions so far this season.
- Despite eight home games domestically without a win, the Swans have put nine goals on their opponents in just two EL home games so far.
- Michu has scored in three of his last four starts.
- Swansea City completed the most passes (715) of any other side in the first round of Europa League games
- They also had the best pass completion rate (92.9%).
- St Gallen have lost only once in six Europa League games (W3 D2).
- Swansea's Wilfried Bony has scored four goals in his last four Europa League matches, and previously finished top scorer in the competition.
- No player attempted more shots (including blocked) than Wilfried Bony on the first matchday of the Europa League proper (nine).
- Swansea ended a run of eight games without a clean sheet in European competition (excluding qualifiers) when they beat Valencia 3-0.
Straight from the horse's mouth
Swansea manager Michael Laudrup has acknowledged his side's oppnenents are, to an extent, an unknown quantity:
"I've seen their game against Kuban Krasnodar and against Spartak Moscow in the play-off - they don't have the big stars but they really work hard. They were underdogs against Spartak, a side who have played in the Champions League.
"They drew in Switzerland and were 1-0 down after 51 seconds in the second leg and were then outplayed for 20 minutes, but suddenly they went 3-1 up, so it shows they have a lot character, it will be a difficult game and a game where even if we're doing well we have to keep an eye on the spirit in their squad.
"They play differently than us, a little more direct at times, but they have really done well against the Russians so I want to repeat we have to be careful.
"We are at home, we have to try and control the game, but be aware of counter-attacks and their spirit."
St Gallen boss Jeff Saibene went on something of a charm offensive, possibly trying a bit of the old mind-games:
"For us this is a huge challenge, we are playing against an established Premier League team who are technically excellent. We are outsiders in this game, but we have come here to give it everything. The Valencia win was a surprise, it was a very convincing win and that shows the strength of the team.
"Maybe Valencia were not on form at the time, but that result shows the high level at which Swansea are playing at. They are favourites to win the group.
"It wasn't just the game against Kuban that has given us confidence [to do well in Europe], we also had two games against Spartak Moscow. When the draw was made we weren't really given much chance of getting through, but we beat them in a good way and that has given us confidence.
"Now we've had 12 games unbeaten, so obviously we'll go out there and show what we can do. We do have to adapt to our opponents, we can't be that naive. We've done lots of research and we've seen lots of videos, but we are going to go out and play our own game."
"They don't play like a typical British team, they are more technical - maybe that's down to Michael Laudrup's influence. They are a very good team, I think that's been proven so far. We are not going to fear anyone, although we respect the whole team.
"Michu is a good player and Swansea are very good going forward. We just have to concentrate on our own game. Our team will be quite hard to judge by the British public. The Europa League is unpredictable and anyone can beat anyone."
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Analysis
Once again, a lack of knowledge about our opponents means predicting too much would be an exercise in futility. The Swans should have a more or less full team to choose from though, with the exception being Ashley Williams. Hopefully St Gallen don't cotton on to just how important Ash is for us, as if they throw the kitchen sink at us early on it's likely they'll get something for their troubles, such has our defence been without our inestimable leader.
In midfield it's really a case of horses for courses - depending on how much Laudrup knows about his opponents he could try to match his midfield to how he thinks St Gallen will line up, but it's likely he'll back his side to be the superior footballing outfit and simply put out what he considers his strongest eleven. That would seem to me the best bet, as after demolishing Valencia there's every reason to be confident - St Gallen manager Jeff Sabiene has rightly claimed we're now favourites to win the group and a victory tonight would go a long way in achieving that.
The Swiss side's frugality both in front of goal and in defence means I'm not going to predict a goal feast here. If we score early it's possible that the visitors will wilt, but their recent results lead me to believe they're a team high on self-belief and motivation, so I can't see us disposing of them as readily as we did Malmo or Petrolul.
1-0 or 2-0 with Bony to score has a nice ring to it. I think I'll go with that...
In midfield it's really a case of horses for courses - depending on how much Laudrup knows about his opponents he could try to match his midfield to how he thinks St Gallen will line up, but it's likely he'll back his side to be the superior footballing outfit and simply put out what he considers his strongest eleven. That would seem to me the best bet, as after demolishing Valencia there's every reason to be confident - St Gallen manager Jeff Sabiene has rightly claimed we're now favourites to win the group and a victory tonight would go a long way in achieving that.
The Swiss side's frugality both in front of goal and in defence means I'm not going to predict a goal feast here. If we score early it's possible that the visitors will wilt, but their recent results lead me to believe they're a team high on self-belief and motivation, so I can't see us disposing of them as readily as we did Malmo or Petrolul.
1-0 or 2-0 with Bony to score has a nice ring to it. I think I'll go with that...