Last season we saw Swansea City put seven goals past Cardiff City over two games in the so called ‘South Wales’ derby. The first ever double was completed in the history of the fixture and Cardiff City were put to the sword over two one sided games. However, there’s a startling stat regards that first home game of last season almost a year ago to the day.
First off we have to look at the Swansea City line up in that game, and only three players will be available from that initial 3-0 defeat of Cardiff last season. That’s a pretty remarkable stat. And the key players in that win won’t be available come this Sundays game.
Here’s a look at the swans line up a year ago.
The only three we are likely to see on Sunday, and that’s a big maybe are Ryan Manning, Kyle Naughton and captain Matt Grimes. Manning is currently not one hundred percent fit, Grimes is on four yellow cards and Naughton is struggling with a shoulder injury. It isn’t inconceivable that starting line up could be totally wiped out come Sunday.
Ben Hamer is now at Watford, Ryan Bennett is no longer at Swansea and without a club. Ethan Laird is now on loan at QPR from Manchester United, Flynn Downes now plies his trade at West Ham and Jake Bidwell is a Coventry City player. It goes on. Korey Smith is at Derby County these days in league one, Jamie Paterson isn’t fit and Joel Piroe is banned after last weekends sending off. It’s quite a change over twelve months with the swans possibly having a better side (on their day) than the one that featured last season.
There are some familiar names from the bench that day. Olivier Ntcham, Ben Cabango, Liam Cullen, Joel Latibeaudiere and Steven Benda.
It’s an extraordinary stat that Swansea City will field a team almost unrecognisable to the starting eleven from a year ago. That’s what throws the result of this derby game in to the air. It’s hard enough to predict the outcome on any given day, and both sides are up and down when it comes to performance and resilience in the championship.
The build up has started.
Swansea City v Cardiff City kicks off at 12 midday this coming Sunday at the swansea.com stadium. It is LIVE a on Sky Sports.