The loss of Jordi Amat will be a bigger one than most of us expected at the start of the season after his excellent form to date in the Swans excellent start to the season.

The defender was ruled out for 6 weeks yesterday after he was diagnosed with a sprained lateral ligament which rules him out of action until the end of October.

Jordi was forced off at half time against Chelsea last weekend but it had been hoped that was more precautionary than anything else after he held his place in the side ahead of the other options available to Garry Monk.

interestingly one of those options is an £8m World Cup defender in the shape of Federico Fernandez who came on at half time on Saturday and will now make his debut on Saturday against Southampton. He has had to be content with a place on the bench in the weeks since he signed but he now has a clear run in the team to stake his claim for a place.

There is a longer term argument that suggests that Amat and Fernandez are the future defensive partnership for the Swans but for now the two of them compete for a place alongside captain Ashley Williams and Fernandez now becomes the man in possession with the chance to make the position his own.

Amat was given the nod at the start of the season ahead of Kyle Bartley and has barely put a foot wrong in his three and a half league games - a period in which the Swans conceded just two goals - one to Wayne Rooney and one to Diego Costa. He was a rock at both Old Trafford and at home to Burnley where the Swans were tested defensively and he was also playing well at Chelsea although he had been booked and was living a little dangerously as the Swans tried to stem the Chelsea tide.

Whether he would have retained his place long term is up for debate but Monk has now been forced into the change thanks to this injury and it is time for Fernandez to step up to the mark and show that we were right to pay such a large amount of money for him.

And for Jordi we wish a speedy recovery

Photo: Action Images

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