Swansea v Portsmouth Competition - Sky Bet Championship Venue - Swansea.com Stadium Date - 30 November 2024 Kick off - 3pm Following their hard fought 2-1 away win at Derby on Wednesday evening, next up for Luke Williams’ Swansea squad is a home match against bottom of the table Portsmouth, although it must be stated that they have played 2 matches fewer than the teams around them (matches against high flying Blackburn and Millwall). On Wednesday evening, and for the first time since the days of Paulo Sousa in 2010 the Swans won a league game at Derby. A superb opening 15-minute blitz, in the end, ensured that record changed, although Swansea certainly didn’t have it all their own way at a chilly Pride Park. Zan Vipotnik put the Swans in front with his third goal of the season, lashing home a magnificent strike after just two minutes, before Ronald doubled the lead with a well taken second as part of a blistering start from the visitors. Derby improved, however, and created several strong opportunities either side of half-time, with Kayden Jackson somehow sending a shot off the post and wide from close range after Lawrence Vigouroux had previously denied Marcus Harness. Derby did haul themselves back into the contest midway inside the second half as Nathaniel Mendez-Laing slotted home from the spot after substitute Cyrus Christie was penalised for bringing down Tom Barkhuizen inside the box. Derby pushed for an equaliser, but having conceded late on in their last two league outings, the Swans defence held firm on this occasion. The win, the Swans’ third on the road this season, lifted the Swans up to 11th and into the top half of the table, which is where Luke Williams probably feels his side deserve to be following their spirited showings against most of the league’s big hitters this season. Portsmouth, by contrast, have not kicked a ball in anger this week having seen last Saturday's trip to Blackburn Rovers called off due to a waterlogged pitch before Wednesday's home fixture with Millwall was postponed thanks to a power cut at Fratton Park. As such, recognising the international break, Pompey have not played for 3 weeks, since they comfortably beat Preston 3-1 at Fratton Park. The Swans have played Pompey on 32 previous occasions, winning 7, losing 11 and drawing 14. This is the first league meeting between Swansea and Portsmouth since a goalless draw back in April 2011 at Fratton Park the Championship. In the fixture at the Liberty that season, Portsmouth rather surprisingly ran out 1-2 winners: Turning to tomorrow, the Swans will be playing their 3rd match since last Sunday, whilst as I stated above Portsmouth have had 3 weeks off so will be very fresh, whilst the Swans could be tired. Aditionally, Portsmouth will be boosted by 2,800 Pompey fans - every away ticket has been sold. 10/10 As for the Swans, reports suggest that they could be boosted by the return from injury of Eom, whilst Harry Darling has reportedly recovered from the stomach bug that led to him having to be substituted during the second half at Derby. Balancing everything, I’m going for a 1-1 draw, but hoping that we can pick up another 3 points
Portsmouth are a great football Club, with a rich history. Hope their many travelling supporters have a nice day in Town.
From the Swans’ website this morning: Luke Williams: "We've had a busy schedule, so to get a positive result and to then be back playing at home has given everyone a boost. "We are not feeling sorry for ourselves because of how busy the schedule has been and will be, we are looking forward to the game more than anything else. "For them, not playing (because of postponements of fixtures against Blackburn and Millwall) means they have probably had some players able to recover better, but then some players would not prefer that because they like the feeling of having a rhythm and a flow. "I guess we will find out the impact it might have had when it's 5pm and we see how the teams have performed." John Mousinho: “We’ve had to adjust – we changed things around at the weekend and came in on the Sunday to train. “We then trained on the pitch after Wednesday’s game was called off, which is something we wouldn’t normally do, but we needed to get something into the boys’ legs. “So we’ll go to Swansea having not played a game for three weeks, which has both its positives and its drawbacks. “I’m sure they’ll be thinking that it’s a boost for us because we’re nice and fresh, while they’ve had tough matches against Leeds and Derby. “But we don’t think it’ll make a huge amount of difference and we’ll have to be ready to face a side that possess a real threat.”
I'm firmly on the hype train for this one! Providing we go for it and commit to attack. It's certainly winnable and I hope we continue our positivity. 2 - 1.
10 shots, 1 on target. They've had 3, 2 on target, 2 goals. The driver had better reappear second half or I'm getting off the hype train! Was the Leeds performance a one-off?
