Swansea v Derby

[jackaway]

Two matches to go in the League before the play-offs.
First up is relegation threatened Derby at the Liberty. They are four points ahead of Rotherham and Sheff Wed who are in the relegation places, but Rotherham have a game in hand.
Swans have been on a poor run at home, winning only one of the last six matches. Derby have five defeats and a draw in the last six matches.
Remember the away fixture, Derby beat us 2-0, so we have to treat this match seriously if we want momentum going into the play-offs.
Will Steve Cooper rest key players, and how good are their replacements in the squad? He doesn’t do much squad rotation so I expect limited changes, with reinforcements on the bench if the match is not going our way. He also has to be careful with key players getting injured. All in all a conundrum for Steve, let’s hope he makes the right choices.

[jackaway]

Kick-off is at 3pm this afternoon with Sky Sports live coverage starting 15 mins before hand.

[Estoban]

It’s hard to understand our home form lately after being fortress Liberty most of the season.
I would be fielding my strongest side to get some momentum going for the play-offs.

[jackaway]

Today’s teams -

Swansea City: Freddie Woodman; Connor Roberts, Ryan Bennett, Ben Cabango, Jake Bidwell; Korey Smith, Yan Dhanda, Matt Grimes (captain); Morgan Whittaker, Liam Cullen, Jamal Lowe.

Substitutes: Ben Hamer, Ryan Manning, Jay Fulton, Conor Hourihane, Wayne Routledge, Joel Latibeaudiere, Kyle Naughton, Ollie Cooper, Brandon Cooper.

Derby County: Kelle Roos, Craig Forsyth, Graeme Shinnie (captain), George Edmundson, Kamil Jozwiak, Martyn Waghorn, Tom Lawrence, Nathan Byrne, Colin Kazim-Richards, Matt Clarke, Jason Knight.

Substitutes: David Marshall, Max Bird, Louie Sibley, Eiran Cashin, Patrick Roberts, Lee Buchanan, Festy Ebosele, Kornell McDonald, Louie Watson.

[Iolo]

Come on the Swans!
Routledge, Hourihane, Fulton, Guehi, Naughton out
Whittaker, Dhanda, Smith, Bennett, Roberts in
Ayew not in the squad, resting his hamstring injury

[Iolo]

Derby have been in Swansea since Tuesday for a bonding exercise with the players.

[jackaway]

FT 2-1
Another poor display against a bottom of the table side. Derby took the lead but an inspired few minutes from Swansea secured the win, Whittaker and Roberts the scorers.
Derby the better side throughout, funny old game.

[jackaway]

Match report -

https://www.swanseacity.com/news/report-swansea-city-2-derby-county-1

[Estoban]

Well, Swans made five changes and the whole team struggled. You’d think that they’d want to make an impression but even the regulars were lethargic. I wonder if some players were holding back afraid to get injured with the play-offs looming.
Derby were fighting against relegation and were far sharper on the ball and more committed than us.
We only woke up when going a goal down and a magic few minutes with two goals saw us win the match.
At this time of the season it’s all about points not performance, so in the end it was job done.

[Estoban]

Iolo, the Sky match commentator said that Derby were actually staying just outside Cardiff and training at the Bluebirds facilities.
That means the Vale of Glamorgan Spa Hotel and Golf with Cardiff City’s Training Ground next door. It’s where the Wales rugby and soccer teams also stay and train as well.

[jackaway]

These are the match highlights -

https://www.swanseacity.com/news/highlights-swansea-city-v-derby-county-0