The Match
Everton have enjoyed a new adventurous lease of life under Martinez, and despite performances going off the boil slightly of late they're still pulling out impressive results. Take their last five - the only losses are Chelsea and Arsenal away, while they could make it three wins against Welsh opposition in their last six games in all competitions by beating the Swans at home this weekend. Despite undoubtedly maintaining an affection for the Swans (though not as strong an affection as he once foolhardily professed) there's no way Martinez will take it easy on Garry Monk, as this will definitely be viewed as an excellent opportunity to put three points on the board and put pressure on Tottenham - only two points ahead having played two games more. Champions League qualification is probably unrealistic for Everton this year, but they seem likely to finish pretty damn close to those elusive top four spots.
Swansea seem to have taken a bit of a pasting in the media this week, with the general consensus being "you're never too good to go down". These accusations generally seem to have been leveled because up until now it seemed we weren't being mentioned in any talk of relegation battles, but in the Swans' defence any talk of that nature most definitely wasn't coming from the club. A disappointing collapse at home to West Brom last time out means this fixture (along with the Arsenal game that proceeds it) have now taken on an air of extra importance, and any points gleaned from these two games will be absolutely huge given the end of the season is now starting to loom large on the horizon.
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
Swansea travel to Goodison tomorrow to face former manager Roberto Martinez and an Everton
side hoping to win its sixth straight Premier League home match. Garry Monk will welcome back
midfielder Jonjo Shelvey after almost a month out with a hamstring problem while winger Nathan
Dyer is also fit following a bruised heel. Pablo Hernandez is chomping at the bit following his recent
recovery from injury and could force his way into the reckoning on Saturday, likewise compatriot
Michu who has “impressed” this week in training; although the latter maybe held back after almost
four months out. Kyle Bartley remains side-lined.
For Everton, England international Phil Jagielka (hamstring) will have a late fitness test; the defender
is rated as ‘50/50’ and his involvement is considered to be “touch-and-go” after sitting out the
previous three games. Steven Pienaar (knee) is a definite absentee after a scan revealed cartilage
damage with a likely return in 2/3 weeks. Long-term The Toffees are missing Arouna Kone and
Darron Gibson who could return before the end of the season with January on-loan signing Lucina
Traore also “hopeful”. Bryan Oviedo is currently in Costa Rica following his leg break in January, the
international is still harbouring hopes of appearing at the World Cup in Brazil.
midfielder Jonjo Shelvey after almost a month out with a hamstring problem while winger Nathan
Dyer is also fit following a bruised heel. Pablo Hernandez is chomping at the bit following his recent
recovery from injury and could force his way into the reckoning on Saturday, likewise compatriot
Michu who has “impressed” this week in training; although the latter maybe held back after almost
four months out. Kyle Bartley remains side-lined.
For Everton, England international Phil Jagielka (hamstring) will have a late fitness test; the defender
is rated as ‘50/50’ and his involvement is considered to be “touch-and-go” after sitting out the
previous three games. Steven Pienaar (knee) is a definite absentee after a scan revealed cartilage
damage with a likely return in 2/3 weeks. Long-term The Toffees are missing Arouna Kone and
Darron Gibson who could return before the end of the season with January on-loan signing Lucina
Traore also “hopeful”. Bryan Oviedo is currently in Costa Rica following his leg break in January, the
international is still harbouring hopes of appearing at the World Cup in Brazil.
Completely guessed lineups
Statistics & Trivia
- Everton have never lost in any competition to Swansea (W14 D5 L0) and have already beaten them twice this season, once in the Barclays Premier League and once in the FA Cup.
- No Swansea player has scored in the five Barclays Premier League meetings with Everton, with their only goal being a Bryan Oviedo own goal.
- Everton boss Roberto Martinez started his managerial career as boss of Swansea City winning 50% of his 126 games in charge of the Welsh side.35% of Everton's goals have come in the final 15 minutes of matches this season, the highest proportion in the league this season.
- Swansea City have won just two of their last 15 Premier League matches (W2 D5 L8).
- Everton have lost just one of their last 23 Premier League games at Goodison Park (W17 D5 L1).
- Swansea have won just one of their last 11 Premier League away games (W1 D3 L7) and none of the last eight (D3 L5).
- It is 11 Premier League games since the Swans kept a clean sheet away from home.
- Everton have scored five goals from direct free kicks this season, the joint-most along with Manchester City.
Straight from the horse's mouth
Garry Monk feels the squad have bounced back well from Saturday's defeat to West Brom, and is confident we'll still be in the Premier League next season:
'The reaction in training this week has been good, all the players have been pushing each other, but the ultimate point is you`ve got to turn those performances into results. If I`m not happy I`ll tell them but they weren`t happy themselves.
The good thing for us it`s in our own hands, we`re not chasing to make up points, but we need to get those points as quickly as possible to make us safe.
'I`m totally confident we`ll earn enough points to be OK, we`re talking about two 45-minute periods where we haven`t performed like we should have. The attitude has been spot on.'
http://www.swansea.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=353481#ixzz2wY8HXM9d
Roberto Martinez feels you have to look beyond results to see the difference Garry Monk has made in his short time in charge of Swansea City:
“I’ve been nothing but impressed with Gary Monk, I think it would be a big mistake to try to assess his time just by the results. Some of the performances have been impressive, especially the two games against Napoli in the Europa League – he brought a really mature performance form the players.
“Even the game against Liverpool, and games at home against Crystal Palace and West Brom they’ve been very small margins and that’s probably the reason they are where they are in the league.
“I know it’s going to be a really tough game for us on Saturday.”
http://www.baytvliverpool.com/vod/index.php?vid=MBV532b291d5d922
Analysis
Garry Monk must be sick of the sight of ex-managers. In his eight games in charge he's already gone up against two previous bosses in Rodgers & Martinez, and he's now got another chance to test his managerial mettle against a former gaffer as the Swans go away to the Toffees in search of what would be their first league win in five outings.
There's definitely been a change in the mood of the Swansea support this week, and league tables will no doubt have been studied with a little more earnest as fans look to work out just how many points are likely to be needed to see their team to safety. Given we only picked up one point from two home games against Crystal Palace and West Brom, the need to pick something up in this fixture has increased somewhat and Monk will undoubtedly be feeling the pressure.
It's likely Monk will stick with the same midfield which started the game against West Brom, and with Everton's own midfield likely to contain three of Gareth Barry, James McCarthy, Ross Barkley and Kevin Mirallas Swansea's trio of Leon, Jose & Jono will need to find a way to stay switched on for ninety minutes, as opposed to wilting at half-time like we've seen in the Swans' last two outings.
Out wide, too, the away team will need to stay switched on until the final whistle. In the first half against WBA we capitalised on space in between the centrebacks and their wingbacks, but in the second half this simply didn't happen. It's definitely somewhere we can get at Everton too - especially with Jagielka likely to miss out, so getting our attacking players hitting the gap between Jon Stones and his fullback could well prove fruitful.
As mentioned it's debatable who'll start behind Lukaku, but whether it's Barkley or Mirallas is irrelevant in my opinion as both are great players. I think Barkley looks like he has the potential to be a better all-round player, but both care capable of producing something from nothing and their quick feet and turn of pace needs to be watched carefully throughout. Chico is likely to come back from suspension and given his good form of late that could well prove to be a bonus, while Ash looks set to have another physical battle on his hands after experiencing a tough time last time out against Victor Anichebe.
Swansea's fullbacks will have to be on top, top form to stop Everton's marauding widemen, though as mentioned their tendency to get forward could potentially be exploited. Seamus Coleman is the top scoring defender in the Premiership with six goals, while Leighton Baines on the other side is alright too. With players like Deulofeu, Osman, Barkley & Mirallas rotating in front of them, it'll be a tough ask to come away from this one with a clean sheet.
That's not to say it's impossible though. As mentioned, they leave space when they push up through their fullbacks and this can be exploited. As Jon Trew pointed out in his excellent piece earlier this week, Martinez's teams tend to attack with eight players leaving two at the back, and if we're mindful of this (and solid in defence) we can capitalise on it - especially if Jagielka doesn't make it back in time. Jon Stones' inexperience coupled with Distin's lack of pace could well be key to Swansea getting a result here.
That being said, we'll have to play very, very well if we're to get anything out of this one. Everton are a very good side and Martinez has them playing with belief, desire and passion - any points gleaned from Goodison this weekend will be a massive bonus in the club's bid to relegation, as well as a huge confidence boost for a team who haven't picked up the results performances have deserved (on the whole) since Monk took charge.
Am I confident? No. Am I pessimistic? No. We can get something from this one, and the recent FA Cup tie showed that. Have no fear, play to the final whistle and believe in the Swansea way. That's all we can do.