Swansea City set out this afternoon to take all the points after last nights positive result for Preston North End saw them slip in to fifth place in the championship ensuring the swans fall to eighth. Two away games over the past seven days where Swansea haven’t really performed to the levels expected.

The first subject has to be the replacement for Matt Grimes. If indeed the player will be viewed as a replacement. An easy slot in to place player is retain Jay Fulton and start with Olivier Ntcham, and that’s the expected move by Russell Martin. From there Ryan Manning can remain in role as he did at Preston on Tuesday evening. The issue for Martin to consider is ‘Do I play Michael Obafemi with Joel Piroe ?’ Which is more of an issue than replacing Matt Grimes. ( Below )

It’s an ideal time to to see again these two working together but there is fast becoming a time for Armstrong Oko-Flex to have far more involvement in a Swansea game. Experimentation on a match day isn’t a good idea so the training day will of course reflect that possibility, let’s be honest had Martin had his captain on the field today Armstrong would have had a far better chance of starting.

Martin gave few clues away as to his mindset for todays game this week, what he did was cleverly turn conversations towards his agenda. Ryan Manning and Joel Latibeaudiere his primary concern and securing them contracts. As we reported on Monday those discussions have and will continue to take place, and no doubt will conclude in the near future, they have to. As Martin said yesterday "We have a group of players we have an opportunity to build with, who are so young and so brave, and such amazing people personality-wise. The two of them should be a huge part of what the club want to build in terms of their profile, their character and what they produce on the pitch. Lets hope we get it sorted as quickly as possible.”

We are uncertain as to why Latibeaudiere would command such focussed attention having been slow to convert to his right wing back ( if you like ) role at the club. Like Manning though he does possess versatility and offered options under pressure, his dedication to development impresses Russell Martin greatly. See what our Russ did there, he’s got us chatting about Manning and Latibeaudiere as well.

Today isn’t a day for experimenting with a variety of positions, we will see changes of course, it can’t be any other way. The confidence of Ben Cabango of late has to be under the microscope as well, it’s an interesting selection day for the swans boss. And as we said last week isn’t it time for Armstrong to flex his muscles ?

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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