The Match
Stoke must have been wondering what happened to all the positivity that surrounded the first few weeks of their season, as they've become embroiled (along with many others) in this season's epic battle against relegation. Of late though, there have been a few rays of light at the Brittania Stadium and a credible draw at Southampton, preceded by a home win over Man Utd (although everyone seems to take points off United these days) mean they're likely to be in a confident mood when Garry Monk's Swansea City roll into town. Charlie Adam, as much as I hate him, has been on fire of late and Peter Odemwingie looks a tidy addition, so they'll no doubt be looking to get in the Swans faces early on and dictate the pace of the game.
Swansea will no doubt be massively buoyed by their fantastic derby win over Cardiff, and more important than the result for me was the way the team played - of late, I've worried the name of this website was becoming slightly ironic so I've got a lot to thank Garry Monk for. The way we played against our bitter rivals showed that Monk understands what's needed to get this Swansea team picking up results again, and if we can recreate the performance of Saturday away at Stoke we've every chance of securing a positive result.
Prior Form (Most recent at top)
Team News
Provided by resident fitness guru @BenDinnery - make sure to follow him on Twitter for the latest injury news and views
Stoke welcome back Marc Wilson who missed the draw at Southampton due to illness but Mark Hughes will hand a late fitness test to attacking players Mark Arnautovic (ankle) and winger Oussama Assaidi (hamstring). Andy Wilkinson (heel) and Matthew Etherington (calf) have recovered from their recent injury problems but are unlikely to be involved; both players are lacking match-fitness. Central defender Robert Huth is a definite absentee, the big German is recovering from knee surgery.
Swansea travel to the Britannia Stadium in high spirits following the South Wales’ derby victory and acting manager Garry Monk will be buoyed not only by the result but by the number of first team squad members returning to full fitness. Saturday marked the first appearance since December for goal-keeper Michel Vorm while Jose Canas managed a little over 20 minutes following his recent ankle injury; tomorrow should also see the inclusion of midfielder Jonjo Shelvey after recovering from an on-going hamstring problem. However Spaniard Michu is likely to miss out again having failed to train for a number of days last week while recent recruit Marvin Emnes is doubtful after a muscle problem at the weekend.
Completely guessed lineups
Statistics & Trivia
- Only Alan Shearer (46) and Dion Dublin (45) have scored more headed goals than Peter Crouch (42) in Premier League history.
- Charlie Adam has now scored two and assisted two in his last five Premier League appearances.
- Peter Crouch now has 85 Premier League goals, one more than each of Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Fernando Torres.
- Swansea have won back-to-back home games for the first time since March 2013
- All eight of Wilfried Bony's Premier League goals have come at the Liberty Stadium.
- Nathan Dyer has scored three times in his last six league games for the Swans.
- Stoke City have lost just one of their last nine Barclays Premier League home matches (W4 D4 L1).
- Swansea have lost six of their last nine Barclays Premier League away games (W1 D2 L6).
- Peter Crouch has scored three goals in his two previous Premier League appearances against Swansea at the Britannia Stadium.
- Swansea have scored just two goals in their last six Premier League away games, despite attempting 47 shots at goal in these six matches.
- 38% of Stoke City’s Premier League goals this season have come from outside the box (10 of 26) – a higher proportion than any other side.
- Swansea have the opportunity to win back to back Premier League games in their first two matches under Garry Monk – something that they did not manage to do under Michael Laudrup this season.
Straight from the horse's mouth
Garry Monk concedes Swansea haven't deserved anything from their prior trips to Stoke, but hopes to change that on Wednesday night:
"We haven't played well enough there in the past to deserve anything from the two games, but this is another game and a chance to put that record straight. That's something we will be aiming to do.
"Stoke will be pushing hard to get the three points as well, so we are under no illusions as to how hard it is going to be, but this is a chance to go up there and put in a performance we haven't put in there before."
http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Garry-Monk-spells-Swansea-City-means-ahead-Stoke/story-20601429-detail/story.html#ixzz2t0e41PqY
Mark Hughes is thinking long term, but wants to replicate recent successes in order to get the result against the Swans::
"I want to be here for a significant amount of time, if I can, to build something really special. This year was always going to be difficult and a season of possible highs and lows, but we will get through it, and be better for it too. It's about making sure we take care of our business.
"I don't think I've experienced, as a player or as a manager, so many teams so close together. If we play like I know we are capable of playing [against Swansea], like we did against Manchester United and how we approached the game against Southampton, we will be fine.
"We want to push on to the top half of the table if we can."
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11701/9159969?
Analysis
Well I'm feeling a bit more confident now than I was a week ago. After our capitulation against West Ham Swansea fans could have been forgiven for looking at this fixture with some degree of trepidation due to the direct tactics employed by both teams, however a much, much improved showing against Cardiff in the derby has left the Jack Army confident of a continued return to winning ways. Hopefully the squad are as confident as we are...
Against Cardiff we reverted to tactics not seen since Brendan Rodgers was in charge, and considering how well it worked it's unlikely we'll change much going into this one. Expect width from our wingers, for two central midfielders to sit and shield our back four, and for the Swans to press Stoke high up the field. In the reverse fixture we managed to go two goals down before that penalty decision gave Stoke a point in the last minute, but if we play like we did against Cardiff there's no way we'll find ourselves two goals behind.
One player sure to come in for a bit of stick is Peter Odemwingie, though we have to pay attention to him lest he make us regret our jeers. Briefly of Cardiff, he made a name for himself with all that QPR rubbish a while back and now has a reputation as a bit of a mercenary, however he scored a decent goal on the weekend and given time (and especially space) he'll deliver goals. Ash & Chico take note.
I'm undecided how much rotation we'll see at the Brittania, and a lot will depend on if Garry Monk chooses to rest players like Leon Britton, Angel Rangel & Ben Davies, or if he feels they're capable of playing to that standard twice in four days. I'd say Davies could safely be rested for Taylor, but the loss of Britton or Rangel would be costly. If Canas comes in and is told to explicitly "be Leon Britton" then we might just be ok, but the loss of the diminutive talisman would be massive - especially if "the wandering midfielder" De Guzman lines up in the midfield too. As for Rangel, I feel swapping Davies for Taylor doesn't diminish the quality of the side whereas swapping Rangel for Tiendalli...does.
Whoever lines up in midfield they'll be sure to have a tough time of it with Charlie Adam, Glenn Whelan & Jonathan Walters likely to be up against them. Play at anything less than 100% and we could well see a repeat of the result at the Liberty, but play like we did against Cardiff and Charlie Adam won't touch the ball. That's the aim, as we should be good enough to keep the ball away from this Stoke side, even if they have gone away from the hoofball antics championed by Pulis for so long.
The proof is in the pudding, but I'm remarkably confident about this game. The Swans are surely going to pick up an away result soon, and we've got an excellent opportunity to pick up three points here - three points which could lift us back up into tenth place but crucially, would leave us six points clear of the relegation zone.
That wouldn't be a bad start to life as a Premier League manager for Garry Monk, who - let's be honest - set the bar pretty damn high on the weekend!