Swansea City have had a decent run of results of late and with two home games coming up in the next five days they find themselves in a position of proving a few points. With five games to go this season head coach Russell Martin will want to persuade Swans fans they now have a team that reflects his own on the pitch ambitions.

Martin is mindful that Liam Walsh, Joe Allen and Jamie Paterson all have their specific fitness concerns. Paterson has a few niggles from the 2-0 win at Wigan on Monday and Joe Allen has to be carefully managed throughout the next five games. The impressive Liam Walsh should feature today, this morning it’s a case of assessing his fitness after being left out for that Bank Holiday Monday game.

Looking back on recent events the Swans head coach is more than pleased. "There is a nice feeling in the group, I am proud of the way everyone has come through a tough period. In particular I am proud of the courage the players have shown over last four games, and even before that,” he said. The supporters have been amazing, they have supported the team incredibly well and you could see the amount of people at the bank holiday games, which was terrific. So, we are in a good place, but the challenge is to keep it going and find some consistency between now and the end of the season. It's hard to come through a period like we had, but I think it will be a big part of us moving forward. We have learned so much and I will be a better manager”

Martin also has midfield choices in Olivier Ntcham, Matt Grimes, Ollie Cooper and Jay Fulton and when those players are added to Walsh and Allen he does have a strong and consistent midfield to choose from. Ben Cabango is keen to see the run continue. Speaking to the press yesterday he said. “We just want to show what we’re good at which is keeping the ball and working hard for each other. “I think when we look back on the season, there are so many ups and downs and we’re such a young squad that hopefully going through that tough period will help us in the future. It took us too long to get out of it, I’m not sure why that was, but we’re looking to finish this season strongly. The gaffer has shown so much faith in us and given us so much courage to play the way we want to play, so we know we can do it. We’ve shown in the last few games that we’ve been strong defensively, and we’re scoring a lot of goals”

Some doom-mongers continue to cite a lack of support amongst the players for Russell Martin which most of us know is pure fantasy. Those sort of comments are driven by an agenda of a very few ‘supporters’ with little or no knowledge of the Swansea City situation behind the scenes. Russell Martin is very much in the driving seat and he continues to reference the summer and the clubs ability to sign certain players.

Neil Warnock does present any opposition manager with problems, he has a squad at Huddersfield Town who are hanging on his every word since he arrived at the club. “I’ve always had criticism wherever I’ve been, but I’ve only ever had a couple of teams good enough to have 60 per cent possession — which shows how bad the other teams were back then. We’ve got to be tight and we’ve got to be organised and when teams try and break us down, we’ve got to catch them on the break, which I think we’ve done well. We’re limited squad-wise, but the lads are giving me everything. I read some of the fans’ forums with people asking why don’t we play with two or three forwards, but if I did that then we’re going to get another heavy defeat like against Coventry or Burnley. We have to be sensible. We know we’re not going to see a lot of the ball in these next two games if we’re honest. I don’t think I’ve ever had more than thirty per cent of the ball in any game I’ve played against Swansea — and I’d be surprised if we get more than that on Saturday. They have fifteen per cent possession just across the back line, before they even start to go forward. You’ve not got to get too excited by stats, have you ?

Tongue in cheek there from Warnock.

That’s the exercise for Warnock and his Terriers today, he has already admitted getting the ball will be his first goal, and then he will utilise the pace he has in his side to open up Swansea’s defence. We can expect a lot of possession this afternoon and most certainly opportunities to win the game. Goals haven’t been hard to come by of late and Swansea fans will be disappointed if the three points don’t remain in west Wales.

Swansea City v Huddersfield Town kicks off at 3pm today with tickets still available

Photograph licensed from Reuters

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