Swansea host Newcastle on Saturday, with both teams coming into the fixture after securing draws in their first matches of the season.

Both Jonjo Sheley and Jack Colback have established themselves as key figures for Swansea and Newcastle over the last season, occupying the central midfield berths for either team. The battle between them will be a critical one on Saturday, as they are essential components of their sides efforts to retain possession, with Shelvey completing 44 passes and Colback 38 in the first round of fixtures.

In addition to his passing, Colback is renowned for his excellent workrate and ability to cover every blade of grass. However, he’ll have his work cutout in the centre of the park this weekend, as he comes up against Gylfi Sigurdsson. The duo covered the most ground for their teams in the last round of fixtures, running 12.3 and 11.8km respectively.

Jefferson Montero tore Chelsea apart in Swansea’s first fixture of the season, giving Branislav Ivanovic a torrid time by completing 6 dribbles (this was the second most of any player in the league). Montero vs Daryl Janmaat will be a key match-up on Saturday, with the Newcastle fullback also producing a solid performance last week — winning every tackle that he attempted.

In Tim Krul and Lukasz Fabianski, Newcastle and Swansea have two of the most reliable ‘keepers in the league and they head into this fixture in good form. The duo made 3 and 2 saves respectively in their first matches of the season and will look to build on these performances throughout the campaign.

Bafetimbi Gomis opened his account for the season with a penalty against the champions, but he may find the going tough against Newcastle’s new centre-back, Chancel Mbemba. Gomis may have won 75% of his aerial duals against Chelsea, but according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, Mbemba won 100% of his. Gomis is 21/10 with 888sport.com to score at any time this weekend.

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