The Swans have ‘landed’ in the north east and this morning will make a few calls on their first eleven for today’s game against Sunderland at the Stadium Of Light. What we do know is Sunderland have a similar issue.

Jack Clarke is out, and that will give the Swans one thing less to worry about. Interim manager Mick Dodds on that has stated, “I’m not a big social media person and am only getting things second and third hand. The information I get from social media is a lot worse than what it is. Jack rolled his ankle against Birmingham, obviously played ninety minutes and was super relaxed. The plan was for him to have a couple of days off and train Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. That hasn’t happened so I think the game is probably going to come too early for him, then we’ll assess where we are on Monday. I don’t think he will be out for a month, I think that has been a little bit more sensationalised than it is.”

Swans head coach Luke Williams is on record as stating Michael Beale, recently sacked by the Black Cats is an excellent coach, but now he has to revisit some of his pre match plans now Beale has gone. “I know they are a very good side and I think they are going to be in the shake up. I had the same type of feeling when I was watching the preparation, watching Hull, a team at the time in the play-offs in fifth or sixth position, when we went there, and I could see why. They are a really good team, play with good fluid movements and have a bit of everything that you need in pace and power, experience, youth. They are a good side and it’s a tough place to go. I remember I went up there to visit Gus when he was a manager there, it was the first time I’d been there to like the training ground and spent time there. It was a really impressive place. Of course it’s a tough test but we’re prepared for that and are looking forward to it.”

The Swans have come through a series of games that have been extremely difficult, but also there is belief the test fixtures against the best in the league have given them against Leeds United, Leicester City, Southampton and Ipswich will stand the visitors in good stead today. However Dodds is determined to start his third term as interim manager positively. "I've had a lot of compliments after the last spell which is lovely, but I just can't get that last game out of my head. As much as the Leeds and West Brom games were positive performances, rightly or wrongly I'm the type of person that will look back on the things I didn't do well. I don't think there was anything overly wrong with the performance in Bristol, but when you lose you micro analyse whether you could have done things better. I want to put that one right, definitely."

Well, let’s see, the game kicks off at 3pm today.

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Photographs licensed from Reuters

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