Russell Martin has confirmed he has a full strength side to choose from for tonight’s exciting encounter at the Swansea.Com stadium against West Bromwich Albion. Michael Obafemi could find himself on the bench as the swans go in search of a second home win in three days.
Still marvelling in the result against Cardiff on Sunday,"I’m sure our fans were all still talking about the game on Monday morning, and I’m glad that’s the case because we want them to enjoy it as much as possible,” said Martin. "But for the coaching staff and players we were straight onto analysing the game and pointing out areas where we could have been better along with the good points. "The challenge for us now as a group is to back that performance and result up against West Brom. We’ve spoken a lot about delivering that kind of performance and result, but now we have to maintain that. It’s no good playing like that and not building on it”
We have to agree there, it’s time now for the swans to show their belief in themselves and the system Martin is slowly getting them to play and understand. There is a danger in getting carried away, but as Swansea City will find out tonight WBA are quick and they break rapidly. They will also be pressurising the swans passing game from the off. They too need points after Bournemouth broke away at the top of the league after another win last night.
"We’ve only had a few days to prepare, while West Brom have had two days more as they played on the Friday, but the lads have been really focussed in training, added Martin. As a team, we have to rise to the challenge of repeating our performance levels from Sunday and deliver a good result against a West Brom side that has started the season very well following their relegation from the Premier League.”
Jamie Paterson raring to go tonight
"West Brom have endured a lot of change following relegation, but they’ve done really well under a new manager,” added Martin. They have a clear identity under a manager who had a successful season with Barnsley last season. "We won’t go into this game thinking the work is done because we put in a very good performance and beat Cardiff. This is a different game, a different form of emotion attached to it, and we have to be on top of our game. It’s an opportunity to change our position in the league. It’s still very early days, but we’re far off the top six and a win could move us into the top half.”
The clear issue tonight for the swans is consistency, it won’t be enough to crush their local rivals then fall apart against a team considered far better in West Brom. Russell Martin is not only in his infancy as swans manager, he is in his infancy as a coach and tactician. Getting his side to play as they did only a few days ago yet again, with minimal recovery time is his main issue. The energy put in to the game on Sunday has to be created in some way.
The game will be a home sell out with only a few tickets left to purchase, WBA are believed to have sold around 1,500 tickets for the game. It’s LIVE on Sky Sports Main Event and full match commentary is on Talk Sport 2.