Jon Walters wants Chico punished - that's quite rich for a Stoke player...

Quite how someone playing for the Potters feels he's in a position to call for reprimands is beyond me...

In the aftermath of fluking a point thanks to a horrific refereeing decision, Jonathan Walters decided to take to the press to say that he thought Chico should be punished by the FA for his playacting.

Now, I'm not defending Chico. His theatrics are embarrassing, and it's clear Swansea fans are growing tired of it as after he received a yellow card for throwing himself to the ground in the Stoke game the East Stand actually applauded. That's the first time I can remember Swansea fans applauding one of their own being punished, but to be honest it was deserved.

There is, however, an element of pot kettle black involved here. Walters spent quite a bit of time on the ground in the recent matchup if I remember correctly, as did a number of his teammates, and their goalkeeper Asmir Begovic was guilty of both consistent time-wasting as well as a couple of shoves which were only punished with a yellow card. When you couple that with the style of "football" Stoke have played over the last few years, and the injuries they've inflicted during the same period, it really is a bit cheeky.

I can honestly say that whenever we played Stoke under Pulis I grew worried for the safety of our players. It seemed officials had become used to their "committed tackles" and rough-house tactics, and that to me was inexcusable. A foul is a foul, regardless of the team it was committed by. Hopefully Mark Hughes can pull them away from that kind of thing, but with a squad full of players deeply saturated in the Pulis way, I doubt it. Nathan Dyer is someone I remember getting a particularly rough time of it, and he was regularly "tackled" with such a lack of consideration for his safety that I considered it a miracle if he got out of the game without suffering a serious injury.

It gets even more ludicrous when you consider the only reason they got anything out of the match was because of a ridiculous penalty decision. Stoke gained a point thanks to the officials, and should be counting their chickens - not lashing out at what they perceive (rightly or wrongly) to be cheating on Chico's behalf. Whether he was baited into talking about the incident I can't say, but in my opinion he should look closer to home before accusing an opponent of bending the rules. 

Jonathan Walters - sit down, and shut up.

(Highlights) Swansea 3 - 3 Stoke, plus what the players are saying about THAT penalty...

Selected quotes from the media regarding Robert Madley's mystifying and stupefying decision to award Stoke a penalty

I know I say that I don't like talking about this stuff a lot, and that's true, but if everyone else is...

Angel Rangel

“I am obviously disappointed by that decision but we can't talk much about the referees. We are always the ones who get fined but hopefully in this case it won't be the players who get punished but it will be the referee as we have done nothing wrong. When referees make mistakes they should be the ones to get punished.  

http://www.adifferentleague.co.uk/p6_0_22744_-.html#.UoD3_vmpWQw

Michael Laudrup

“In every game there are talking points over decisions, but when I saw it again, or even out there, there are seven Stoke players in the box and none were asking for a penalty, apart from Peter Crouch who was appealing for a corner, so there was only one man in the stadium who thought it was a penalty, and unfortunately that was the referee."  

http://www.adifferentleague.co.uk/p6_0_22744_-.html#.UoD3_vmpWQw

Ashley Williams

"It seemed like none of their players asked for a penalty, maybe one of them was appealing for a corner. It was a shock to everyone and I didn't see a handball from Wayne or Leon (Britton). I think both sides were surprised by the decision."  

http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/swansea-city/news/williams-shocked-by-stoke-penalty_117249.html

Leon Britton

“I thought maybe he’d given the penalty against me on the line, even though I cleared it with my belly, then I saw the reaction of their players and I thought he had given a goal kick. Then I saw he had pointed to the spot even though not one player had appealed for a penalty. I haven’t seen the replay, but I honestly can’t see where it has come from to be honest. It is very frustrating, especially when a draw feels like a defeat even though we were 2-0 down.” 

 http://www.swanseacity.net/news/article/lb-post-stoke-1166885.aspx?#m7P8BGBtVXfYFuRZ.99

To be honest, I could have gone on and on. There's little point though, other than to once again flag up that certain clubs just don't seem to get decisions going in their favour. I don't think you can use Swansea v Stoke as an example of big-club bias, however elsewhere there have been numerous recent incidents which seem to indicate that there is still a case to be made for this.

Hopefully we won't be talking about disputed penalties again for a long time.

Swansea v Stoke - Match preview, team news, statistics & analysis

The Match

Swansea showed enough in their performance against Kuban Krasnodar to fuel fans belief that a return to form is just around the corner. Despite not capitalising on a dominant first half performance, they did seem to play with a cohesion that we haven't really been seeing of late. They'll have to improve again if they're to claim all three points against a Stoke side for who have slipped down the table as the league starts to take shape. After yet again being mugged late on and seeing three points slip from their grasp in the Europa League, they'll no doubt be keen to put on a positive display of football which will hopefully initiate an upturn in form once we return from the international break.

Stoke started the season in a way which led people to believe we were about to witness the sparkling transformation of a team whose previous tactics were more bludgeoning than beautiful. Early season plaudits which were being lavished upon a new-look Stoke side have quickly disappeared though, and they find themselves sitting only one place above the relegation zone with nine points from ten games. Keep that kind of form up all season and it'll be touch and go whether they're still in the Premier League next year. That being said, their only two points behind the Swans, and a win would see them leapfrog their hosts much like Cardiff did last weekend. Urgh.

Prior Form (Most recent at top)

Team News - provided by Physioroom.com's Ben Dinnery

Swansea take on Stoke this weekend in a switch back to a more familiar Sunday kick-off after their midweek Europa League exertions. Laudrup is expected to welcome back Jonjo Shelvey who missed the game through personal reasons but the Welsh side will be without influential Spanish forward Michu (knee / ankle problems) and the unfortunate Pablo Hernandez who is seeking specialist guidance following another recurrence of a problematic thigh injury. Tremmel will deputise for the suspended Michel Vorm while captain Ashley Williams will have a late test following a slight ankle reaction after the Krasnodar game, although the issue is not thought to be serious. Ben Davies will be available to make his first Premier League start since his ankle injury at Sunderland, but Garry Monk (knee) is expected to remain out.

Stoke travel to Swansea with a number of concerns and Mark Hughes is hoping the extra days rest will be enough to welcome back at least one / two of his players for this key game. Republic of Ireland international Jon Walters has been struggling with a thigh problem all week but did manage to join the session on Friday, providing he has no reaction the forward should be available for selection. Defensively there are question marks over full-back Erik Pieters (back) and centre-half Robert Huth who is struggling with an on-going ankle problem, however the latter is expected to be fine. Andy Wilkinson (knee) is almost certainly ruled out and there will be a late assessment on midfielder Glenn Whelan after he was substituted at half-time against Southampton due to a hamstring complaint.

Completely guessed lineups

Statistics & Trivia

• Excluding the 4-0 win over Sunderland, Swansea have only scored eight goals in nine matches.
• Three of the last four league games between Swansea and Stoke have ended as 2-0 home wins.
• Stoke's away wins in 2013 have coincided with their clean sheets on the road (two games).
• Swansea have gone 208 minutes without conceding a Barclays Premier League goal at home. 
• No Stoke player has more Premier League goals than goalkeeper Asmir Begovic this season (1).
• This game pits together two of the four Premier League teams yet to score a headed goal this season, while, the Liberty Stadium is the only Premier League ground yet to see a headed goal this season.
• Swansea's Álex Pozuelo is the most used substitute in the Premier League this season (eight times).
• Stoke have not won any of their last seven Premier League games; the joint-longest winless run in the Premier League with Crystal Palace.
• Stoke have lost 10 of their last 14 Premier League away games.
• Marko Arnautovic has made 19 league appearances in 2013 but is yet to be on the winning side. It's the longest such record in the top five European leagues.
• Jon Walters is expected to make his 100th consecutive Premier League start. It is the longest current streak in the division.

Straight from the horse's mouth

Gerhard Tremmel admits he'd like to mimic Begovic by scoring a goal, and thinks the Swans are well equipped to deal with Stoke's threat at set-pieces:

"That's one of my aims [scoring a goal] but there is not a lot of time left for me to do it! It was quite windy last weekend - I have never conceded a goal like that, but of course I will be on my guard after that. Begovic can kick the ball a very long way, but I don't think you could call him a dangerman!"  

"In the last few years they [Stoke] have been the strongest team in the Premier League when you talk about high balls. They have a lot of big players, but we are aware of that. We have to keep the ball on the ground, pass it quickly and try to create chances."

 "We mentioned this [set-pieces] before the match at Cardiff. Our record before that was one set-piece goal conceded in 18 games, and that's a very good record, but teams like Stoke will always create chances from set-pieces because they have so many big lads. I am not too concerned about that — as long as they do not score."

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/story-20056651-detail/story.html

 Michael Laudrup has called for one big push before the players go into the international break:

"Some of the players may be a little bit tired, but after tomorrow we have two weeks until the next game so I want them to give everything against Stoke, and I think with the spirit we showed in Krasnodar, especially in the first half, we can get the result we want against Stoke. 

"It's not a decisive game — we are not even a third of the way into the league yet, but it is an important game for us. It's a home game and it's the first game in the league since we lost the derby, so there are a lot of ingredients that make it one that we really, really want to win."

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/story-20056646-detail/story.html?

Analysis

A home win here would really, really help. The 4-0 home win over Sunderland is fast starting to look like a freak result, and the Swans need to show they're capable of playing as a cohesive unit from one to eleven.

Stoke showed early in the season that they were intent on breaking away from Tony Pulis' physical shackles, and seemed set to embark on a remarkable season playing attractive football. The danger with such a marked transformation, however, is that when it fails you're left without a plan "A" - and that's exactly what's happened in recent times. Stoke are on a very poor run of form (only Crystal Palace can boast of a worse record) and Swansea can perhaps look at Stoke and wonder whether any comparisons can be drawn. After all, we've gone away from our plan A and frankly, on evidence of recent performances we need to get back to it.

Wilfried Bony will surely start, and he'll have Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross to deal with. For me, this could be the perfect match for him - he'll have the muscle to mix it with the centre-halves but hopefully the guile to get the better of them. We can but hope, but this could well be a match where Bony's confidence gets a massive boost. Fingers crossed.

Given Stoke's change in styles, we have to be confident as Swansea fans. A home win before heading into the international break? Yes please. Hopefully we can pick up a clean sheet too - Gerhard Tremmel is a real fan favourite and personally I rate him above Vorm. That's a debate for another day though...

My prediction? Swansea 2 - 0 Stoke. Goes with the statistics, that, too...