Swansea City v Sheffield United Competition - Sky Bet Championship Venue - Swansea.com Stadium Date - 14 August 2021 Kick off - 8pm Following their emphatic 3-0 away victory over Championship rivals, Reading, in the First Round of the Carabao (EFL) Cup, next up for Russell Martin’s Swansea squad is a first competitive home match of the season against relegated Sheffield United. On Tuesday evening, the Swans won for the first time under Russell Martin as they cruised into the EFL Cup second round at Reading. Martin's team had been beaten at Blackburn on the opening day of the season but the Swans eased past a youthful Reading side thanks to goals from Joel Latibeaudiere, Ben Cabango and Joel Piroe. The Royals have lost two from two in 2021-22 after their weekend defeat at Stoke City. Whilst the Swans were beating Reading, their former player Rhian Brewster (who had been at Swansea on loan from Liverpool) ended his long wait for his first Sheffield United goal as they beat League Two Carlisle United in the Carabao Cup first round. Brewster, who joined the Blades from Liverpool for £23m last October, had failed to score in his first 31 appearances for the club but gave the hosts the lead when he tapped in after Billy Sharp's initial effort had been parried. Slavisa Jokanovic's side were dominant for much of the game and Brewster came close to making it 2-0 but he could not find the target from a tight angle. The Cumbrians stayed in the game but striker Manasse Mampala was unable to take their best chance when he shot over the crossbar from inside the area. The Swans have played the Blades on 42 occasions, winning 13, losing 19 and drawing 10 games. The teams last met in a Championship match in Swansea in January 2019 when the Swans ran out 1-0 winners, thanks to an Oli McBurnie winner: McBurnie of course is now with Sheffield United, but he remains a firm favourite with the Jack Army. Turning to Saturday, both teams will be desperate to get their first points of the season: in their first Championship match of the season, the Blades lost at home 0-1 to Birmingham. With the Swans returning to ‘the Swansea Way’ of playing football, I’ve no doubt that Russell Martin will be given a warm welcome by the Jack Army. Sheffield United is a difficult first competitive home match for him, but if the Swans can translate their possession into goals, then the new boss could see his first Championship win. However, I’ve a feeling that the new Boss will have to wait longer: I’m going for a hard fought 1-1 draw
Thanks Taff, another really difficult game to call. Sheffield will be a totally different ball game to Reading. On the assumption that our back 3 get their act together and we put our chances away then I am going for an optimistic 2-1 win
"Brewster, who joined the Blades from Liverpool for £23m last October, had failed to score in his first 31 appearances for the club...." - just about sums up the Premier League. I think Taff may be right on the draw but what an atmosphere there's going to be in the ground and maybe it'll be enough to inspire the win... 2 - 1
We need to score more than 2 goals to win this as it's inevitable that McBurnie and Brewster are bound to score.
Excellent write up Taff. With the way we played last night and with Martin having a few more days training the players, I’m in a buoyant mood. Swans win 2-0.
Thanks Taff.....having listened to the game last night I have a sneaky suspicion that we are going to beat the Blades by at least two goals.....there is a buoyancy in the players that will be helped by our expectant vocal crowd......
What a tough game this is, Brewster gets his first goal midweek, McBurnie. Just got vision of a 2 1 deafest with one each for both of them. Take a point now. They will be a good side.
Cheers Taff , this game will a much stiffer test than Tuesdays and imo our weakness will be playing the ball out from the back when the better option would be to go forward, a number of times we played ourselves into problems which Reading failed to capitalise on ,better players won’t be so wasteful
