Swansea City take on Stoke City tonight who still have fresh memories of the penalty incident back in March at Stoke which earned the swans a win. Many swans fans have memories too of numerous penalty incidents involving Stoke City, whether that be by clear cheating or extremely questionable refereeing. It has to be said, look back on those incidents, truly appalling. The Naughton penalty is nothing by comparison over the years.

This game could be quite explosive.

Russell Martin is building his team on the job so to speak with Ethan Laird sure to be included in the match day squad. Flynn Downes will also feature. Korey Smith and Liam Walsh remain injured and Ryan Bennett faces a late fitness test. Kyle Naughton trained well yesterday and is feeling little reaction to the injury he picked up at Reading. Jake Bidwell will learn of his inclusion today now Laird is with the swans, and speculation is increasing he is to leave the club. Jay Fulton is available to Martin after a three match ban earned from his sending off in the Wembley play off final. Brandon Cooper after an outstanding debut on Saturday will be disappointed if he misses out.

The swans need to be more dominant up front in this game which will surely bring goals after Saturdays 0-0 draw against Sheffield United. Those goals have to come from the swans taking advantage of their dominant football approach, and do need to include a more positive mind set from midfielders Grimes and Downes when in possession.

Tuesday night games have become a bit of an issue for Swansea City only winning two of the last twelve games under the lights.

Stoke City have had a satisfactory start to the season and head to Swansea with pretty much an unchanged squad from the weekend. Mario Vrancic is manager O’Neil’s only concern and they come to the Swansea.Com stadium as favourites. O’Neil has stated “It's too early to say (on Vrancic). "We’ve got to assess him and see what the situation is. His hamstring is just a wee bit tight. He was taking some free-kicks and felt it. It’s not a pull or like he was running and pulled up. He just maybe overloaded it a bit.”

O'Neill handed first league starts to Leo Ostigard and Sam Surridge, while Harry Souttar was in the Championship team of the week after returning from the Olympics. Make no bones about it this is a very strong Stoke City side who have added pace and experience to the team since O’Neil was appointed. Former swan Joe Allen is now club captain returning yet again to the area he learned his trade with the Swansea City academy. Russell Martin will be thinking that anything gained from this game will be a positive after a very tough start to the season for his club. After the away loss at Blackburn home games against Sheffield United ( 0-0 ) and Stoke City will be quickly followed by an away game at Ashton gate, Bristol on Friday night.

There will be four ex swans players in the potters squad. Sam Surridge, Ben Wilmot, Joe Allen and Sam Clucas. Wilmot is certain to start and will be seen as the weak link at the back after his performance on Saturday in the draw away to Birmingham City. Caught out on several occasions the Michael O’Neil way of passing the football utilising the same system as the swans is yet to bed in. On Wilmot, O’Neil said: “We brought Ben to the club as he’s a young player and really good footballer. We shifted him from the right to the left side (against Birmingham) and it’s not a concern to him. I think that’s a sign of a player who’s comfortable with real potential. Some of his choices are a little bit more difficult on that side, and he has to work on that”

The game kicks off at 7.45pm at the Swansea.Com stadium with LIVE coverage on Swans TV.

Swansea City v Stoke City ‘Sentinel’ factual trivia

* None of the last 10 league meetings between Swansea and Stoke have ended as a draw, with four Swansea wins and six Stoke wins in this sequence.

*The last seven league meetings between Swansea and Stoke at Liberty Stadium have alternated between a Swans win and a Potters victory — last season’s meeting was a 2-0 win for Swansea.

*Swansea have only won twice in their last 12 league games played on a Tuesday (W2 D7 L3), with one of those two wins coming against Stoke in October 2020 (2-0).

*Stoke are unbeaten in their last five league games on a Tuesday, although four of those five games ended level (W1).

*Stoke striker Steven Fletcher netted three goals in his first two league appearances against Swansea but has since netted just one in his last 10 against the swans.

Photographs licensed from Reuters & Open Source

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