The Swans have only won twice in the history of these sides meeting at Elland Road, the last time in 2019 when Wayne Routledge shot home late in the game, and the time before that 1949. Obviously history tells us that this will be a home win. However, football isn’t as easy to predict as that.
We kicked off our Leeds United match day build up with a look at the current injury crisis at the Swans. You can click on the link below for that report.
And then we opened up our match day forum guide with stats and info below.
We know that there is a lot of dissatisfaction within the swans supporting ranks, but as ever there has to be a time when we get behind our team no matter the questions being raised behind the scenes. So, with that being said here’s two players that should be at least on the bench with a view to some minutes. But Duff has to be brave.
On the left is Kristian Fletcher and on the right is Kyrell Wilson. Between them they have bagged twenty five goals this season, almost on par with each other. And Kristian hasn’t appeared in numerous games due to injury, and having a drop of Turkey in the USA on the weekend. He signalled his return this afternoon with three goals against Ipswich Town, Kyrell bagged the other goal in a 4-0 victory.
See above : Kristian is on the left and Kyrell on the right. They won’t be included in tomorrow nights squad unless they travel separately to the team. The problem seems to be that head coach Michael Duff doesn’t see Kristian Fletcher as being able to improve his options up front, those that follow the age grade U21 side will be asking questions if they don’t see some recognition come this Saturdays game against Huddersfield Town. It’s a no brainer.
Harrison Ashby is looking doubtful after leaving the match on Saturday against Hull City after nine minutes. That leaves Josh Key to come to the fore, but as we said yesterday it does feel like he is being hurried back. The last thing Duff needs is another injured player on top of what he has, we feel he may well be risked at some point. If he is it isn’t ideal, and is a gamble. Kristian Pedersen has been a bit of a mystery over the past month or so, Duff hasn’t mentioned him at all, maybe it’s a big secret ?
Nathan Tjoe-A-On, above, has only played in fifty five first team games for his side Excelsior Rotterdam, he hasn’t really featured for the Swans although he does appear on the bench frequently. That amount of games for a player who is twenty two in a few weeks time isn’t good. Questions have been asked why the Swans would sign him with three options ahead of him on the left hand side of defence. And quite fairly too.
It’s possible Duff will stick with his selections from Saturday, that is where he can against a team in Leeds that has players who came through the Swansea City academy. They shouldn’t be feared despite their recent performances, they couldn’t finish off Rotherham United last weekend, so we are not talking about giants in the Championship. Yes, they are very much a better side than the Swans, and they do have some quality front players, and of course in Ethan Ampadu whose father played for Swansea City they have a real midfield threat.
Leeds head coach, Daniel Farke rates this current Swansea side, speaking this afternoon he said, "I like them. They've changed their style a bit but not in a bad way, not at all. You can still see their DNA, they're good in their passing quality. They put some intensity into their game."
You would expect that and now this Leeds squad only have Stuart Dallas out, other than that they seem to have a fully fit squad. We will have more on this game as it gets closer on the Indy.