Swansea City visit Ipswich Town on Saturday with the majority of people already putting this clash down as a home win. That may well be the case but the Swans are not exactly playing badly with their last two away games resulting in a win and a loss.
Plus around 3,450 Swans fans attended both of those away fixtures.
Marko Stamenić comes back into head coach Vitor Matos thinking for this one. Despite Jay Fulton playing at his level best due to his two game suspension we would hope that Stamenić starts and a slightly rested Fulton is available to do his thing later on in the game. Despite a few folk taking offence to our assessment of Cameron Burgess and Ben Cabango from Tuesday evenings draw at home to Preston they too have to be solid in defence for this one. Burgess had a nightmare when Ipswich came to town for the reverse fixture in November at theswansea.com scoring two own goals. For him we really do hope he can put aside his performance on Tuesday and indeed for that 4-1 loss, as heavy a defeat that we have witnessed this season.
For his age Burgess (below playing for Ipswich) has vast experience that hasn’t always transferred itself onto the field of play for Swansea. There have been numerous errors leading to goals and three own goals this campaign. You could even cite it is four as he also deflected a shot into his own net in the League Cup match against Manchester City. His experience will be called upon throughout this match at Portman Road. We all want him to do well and indeed for Cabango to use his physicality as Swansea captain. Be more vociferous that’s in your game, it’s what your whole being demands in every Swans fixture. Speaking to two ex professional footballers not linked to the Swans on Liam Cullen’s stunning goal they both agreed if that was in international competition on the world stage it would be heralded as one of the great Euro or World Cup goals. We take their opinion as read as ex professionals of course.
Liam has been an enigma for most of his Swans career, a lifelong Swans fan and someone who puts his shirt on and always tries to influence a game. Granted it doesn’t always come off but as Keith highlighted he has scored four goals this season. Three of those goals securing five points for the Swans as winning efforts against Blackburn Rovers away and Portsmouth at home. Then came Tuesdays suoerb headed finish making it five points. On his goal and the Swans performance against Preston Liam said, "But it was nice to be able to be the one to get on the end of the cross and get the equaliser. We are disappointed not to get the three points, our second-half performance deserved it, but it's a point in the right direction.The gaffer has been big on resilience since he's come in, he tells us to keep running, to keep going forward, especially when we're behind. That's a testament to him and his staff for driving that mentality."
There is a slight dilemma for Matos, does he go with Josh Key at right back and move Ethan Galbraith to an already talented midfield, or does he stick with his recent choices. Key looked excellent going forwards when he came on as substitute against Preston but defensively will Matos see that as too big a risk to take ?
Ipswich are on a roll and as expected are in the top six with a fourteen game run in to come. Cedric Kipre looks certain to sign a new contract, the Ivorian is on loan for the rest of this season from Stade de Reims. There is an activation clause of around £4M which Ipswich are keen to finalise. If he signs it will be for three years. The Tractor spreaders won’t want a bigger club coming in as Kipre has performed well this season.
Last time out Ipswich won 2-0 at Watford with defender Jacob Greaves keen to mention the result before that when they shipped five goals at Wrexham was a fluke. "We've got a group who want to fight and do the dirty stuff, as well as show the quality that we did out there. It's a beautiful place to play, the pitch is perfect, so there was no excuse out there. We did the stuff miles better that we didn't do against Wrexham, and that gave us more of a platform to go and play, and we were straight out of the traps. area. It's a position, left-back, that I'm getting used to the more I play it, and I have the licence to stay high and wide. Hopefully, I can keep on improving my game for when I play there in the future."
Leif Davis faces a late fitness test after being excluded from the Watford win last weekend with a knock. Jaden Philogene Is surely out with a MCL issue, although he is back in training this week. We expect Marcelino Nunez to be involved, he started against Watford after an injury. George Hirst is also expected to be included after getting his first goal since December at Watford. That’s it for now, all the latest Swans news leading up to this game will be here on the Indy. And we are a free press source, no £4.99 a month like Wales On Line hide behind. It’s all delivered to you through the hard work of our writers who always have their fingers right on the pulse.
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