Swansea City take on Watford tonight (8pm Swansea.com) with an ever increasing injury list. Plus Josh Tymon sitting this one out due to a one match ban for reaching five yellow cards before nineteen games.
First off Eom Ji-sung is certainly out and will be for some weeks to come. He has a MCL injury. That’s a huge miss, the South Korean had slowly got into this Championship season and was making a name for himself in the league. Then there is Ollie Cooper, another full Wales international who has impressed Craig Bellamy over the Nations League qualifiers this autumn. He is out until next year with a stress fracture, which how it occurred is still a mystery to the club. (How it happened) The foot injury has incapacitated Ollie for now. These two players have featured regularly for the Swans and would have done so tonight.
Jay Fulton has a few weeks left to get over his calf injury, which means Josh’s Tymon sitting this one out is another big blow. For a squad that many believe is under subscribed this season, these four players would have all had an influence on tonight’s game. Joe Allen limped from the pitch after Saturday’s victory at Oxford United. Fingers crossed he is fit. Talking about tonight’s game Allen wants to see his side really push on this week, "I think when you start a three-game week with a win, then it gives you a real opportunity to try and rack up more points and get into a better position. We are looking forward to being back at home, and the challenge for us now is to back up that result at Oxford United and perform to a similar level again. If we do that then we give ourselves the best chance of getting another three points”
Fine words from Joe, but if he doesn’t make the starting eleven then it’s another blow, and the Swans have enough of them at the moment. The long road back for Josh Ginnelly with his acute achilles tendon injury is now on fourteen months and counting. Andy Fisher, although second choice keeper before he was injured in a pre season friendly in the summer is still in rehab. Sam Parker is also suffering a set back, so he is out as well.
Is there any good news ?
Well, not a lot but Aimar Govea was included in the squad for Oxford United, and of course Zǎn Vipotnik and Florian Bianchini kicked on finding the net at the Kassam Stadium. Luke Williams has some cover for Tymon, Azeem Abdulai is one, but he also has Cyrus Christie, Kyle Naughton and potentially Kristian Pedersen if passed fit. Nathan Tjoe-A-On was also included in the squad on Saturday, but he he has numerous more favourable choices ahead of him. None of course that will fill the Swans support with the expectations that Tymon brings to the party, but it is what it is.
⚽️ Latest on contracts and recruitment
We have been told that Andrew Coleman is in no rush to search for and employ a replacement for Sporting Director, Paul Watson. Money saved the longer they don’t move on this. Talking of which the gap between Swansea City, Harry Darling and Ben Cabango hasn’t been closed. Both of the players representatives are currently seeing little point in engaging with the Swans, and as Luke Williams stated ‘Bridges need to be built again’ American hardball business nonsense doesn’t work in the football world that is the UK when it comes to disrespecting players with low ball contracts.
And so it goes.
Tom Cleverley is Watford’s boss, his side hasn’t held in to a clean sheet away from home all season. "Every coach wants clean sheets and I’m no different, I think clean sheets and home form are the foundation for success in this league. We’ve not managed to get the key to clean sheets away from home, and we do need to become more resilient and hard to beat. However I would never complain if we’re winning in an entertaining way. Of course it all comes back to balance, and making the team attacking enough to score goals while also being solid at the back to prevent them going in. That balance is ultimately what my job is as head coach, to try and find the right balance in everything we do. Whether that’s the system we play, the age of the team, how attacking or defensive we are. My job is to find the right balance. We’re improving and I’d rather be on the entertaining side of that balance rather than last season where we were solid but didn’t look like scoring goals. Now we don’t look as solid, but we do look like scoring a lot of goals. We’re still yet to find that perfect sweet spot of being solid as well as being creative, but we’ll get there.”
The big issue for the Hornets is conceding goals, they gave conceded twenty one in thirteen games but have scored twenty two. The Swans have conceded nine with a far lower goal return of ten. This gives both clubs a plus one goal difference. The Swans in twelfth and Watford in fifth with a six point difference. Home games have been an issue of late for the Swans, and after the fillip of a victory at Oxford they will go all out for the win. There are two games left before yet another international break. Tonight’s fixture against Watford and then Burnley away this coming Sunday.
⚽️ @GwynStato official review.
The game is an 8pm kick off.
You can still buy tickets this evening at the ticket office.