Swansea City will be backed by more than 2,500 fans tomorrow as Martinez and his side travel North to face Leeds United.
Tomorrow’s game looks like being a sell-out with nearly 30,000 fans expected to fill Elland Road.
Dennis Wise and Gus Poyet’s team have won all 6 of their games so far this season and have already got rid of their 15-point deduction, going ahead of bottom placed Oldham on goal difference. Another win would equal the club’s record of seven straight wins in an opening to a season.
The Swans haven’t looked convincing lately, going behind in the last 2 games to come back and win them late on. Martinez’s can’t start the game the way they did at Cheltenham on Friday night as they condeded a goal after just 4 minutes. A repeat of that tomorrow and Leeds are more than capable of going to win by a big margin.
Vital Quotes:
Roberto Martinez:
| ‘I know the players will really appreciate running out at Elland Road to see so many Swans fans there to support them. And I can guarantee you, it does make a difference.” ‘They have seven or eight players with Premiership experience, and they have strikers in Jermaine Beckford and Tresor Kandol who are enjoying a honeymoon period.’ ‘Together all that is winning them games and, given the form they’re in, this is difficult a game as you could have in our division.’ ‘What we want, as always, is a good performance. We want to go there and do ourselves justice and then the result will follow.’ |
Dennis Wise:
| ‘I’m not interested in records. I just hope it’s another good afternoon. Football is funny and when you’re doing well you can get a kick. We don’t want a kick, we have to keep doing what we’ve been doing.’ ‘We’ve performed well so far. In some games, there’s been one or two halves where we’ve not performed and it’d be nice to get a game where we perform all the way through. That’s difficult to achieve, but it would be nice.’ ‘Including Swansea, our first seven games have been against teams who will all be very close. Swansea play good football and they’ve won their last three games.’ ‘Roberto (Martinez) has done well there. He is a friend of Gus’s and we know that they are looking forward to coming here.’ |
Leeds United Team News:
Dennis Wise has a near full strength side to choose from and is likely to name an unchanged side from the one that beat Bristol Rovers 3-0. Skipper Alan Thompson is missing again though as he recovers from a groin injury.
Player to watch: Their strikeforce
Both Beckford and Kandol have scored 5 goals this season and they’ll be a right handful for our dodgy defence. That partnership has scored more goals than leaders Leyton Orient.
Swansea Team News:
Roberto Martinez received an injury blow straight after Friday’s win at Cheltenham as Andy Robinson and Leon Britton both suffered hamstring injuries. Physio Richard Evans is hoping they’ll both return on October 2nd for the Swindon game.
The Swans boss has adequate cover for the wingers though with Paul Anderson and Tom Butler likely to replace them on the flanks. Anderson scored the winner against Cheltenham and he’ll finally get his first League start.
Ferrie Bodde returns after a 3-match suspension and looks likely to start in midfield. Pratley was dissapointing at Cheltenham and was subbed at half time. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was dropped to the bench.
Marcos Painter should also be given a start in place of Kevin Austin at left back, having played 45 minutes at Cheltenham in the second half.
Player to watch: Ferrie Bodde
Ferrie Bodde is back and the impressive Dutchman will have a key role to play tomorrow. He has an excellent all-round game, tackling, passing and play-making skills and hopefully he won’t get sent off tomorrow!
Match Facts & Stats
Leeds are technically the leaders but lie second from bottom because of their 15-point deduction. They’ve got a maximum 18 points so far, scoring 14 goals and conceding 3.
The Whites have conceded just 1 goal at home this year, Southend scored in their 4-1 defeat at Elland Road on August 18th.
Swansea City are second in terms of creating chances in League One, behind Northampton. The Swans have managed 59 attempts off target, 36 on target and 5 shots hitting the woodwork. Leeds are 10th in the shooting league, with 45 shots off target, 31 on target and 2 hitting the woodwork.
For every 4 shots on target, Swansea score 1 goal on average. Leeds have a much better record, scoring on average a goal for every 2 attempts on goal.
Ref Watch:
Graham Laws.
Stats this season:
5 Games,
15 Yellows,
0 Reds.
Laws has refereed 5 Swansea games, all away. His last was last season at Tranmere, we won 2-0.
Match Prediction:
It’s a very tough game to say the least and if we continue to concede sloppy goals we won’t get anywhere near getting a point tomorrow. I think we’ll lose narrowly 2-1, we many nick a draw if we’re at our very best.
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