Swansea v WBA Competition - Sky Bet Championship Venue - Swansea.com Stadium Date - 1 January 2024 Kick off - 3pm Following their battling 2-2 draw away at Play-Off hopefuls Coventry City, next up for Alan Sheehan’s battling Swans is a tough looking home match against an in form West Brom who are sitting in 5th place in the Championship table. Last Friday evening, Liam Cullen's stoppage-time free-kick earned managerless Swansea a 2-2 draw at Coventry. The Swans had earlier been ahead through Liam Walsh's first goal in almost four years, before Haji Wright and Ellis Simms put Coventry 2-1 in front. Swansea had been thrashed 5-0 by former head coach Russell Martin and Southampton on Boxing Day, but Cullen fired in a last-gasp set-piece to give his side a hard-fought point. Former Coventry loanee Walsh put Swansea ahead in the seventh minute after he latched onto a poor touch from Jamie Allen and picked out the bottom corner, his first strike since scoring for the Sky Blues in January 2020. The Swans were ahead for just three minutes before Wright was played in by former Swansea loanee Kasey Palmer. The American was confronted by Bashir Humphreys, but shifted the ball onto his left foot before arrowing his effort into the far corner beyond Carl Rushworth. Palmer's powerful effort was then tipped over by Rushworth in the Swansea goal before his free-kick cleared the crossbar. Swansea had been without a permanent boss since December 4 and interim head coach Alan Sheehan handed a senior debut to 17-year-old Sam Palmer, who almost teed up Yannick Bolasie to put the Swans ahead but he could only lift over the bar with his outstretched right foot from close range. Walsh also came close to putting Swansea ahead when he forced Brad Collins to palm away his free-kick. Japan international Tatsuhiro Sakamoto scored a brace in Coventry's 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day and saw his effort blocked on the line following a clever corner routine as Coventry looked to get their noses in front. Simms had been introduced as a substitute and scored his first goal at home for Coventry to put the hosts ahead with 25 minutes remaining. Callum O'Hare picked out Wright at the back post and his looping header looked goalbound before Simms poked in to net his first goal since September when the former Everton striker netted a brace against QPR at Loftus Road. Cullen had also been introduced from the bench and stepped up in the third minute of added time to whip his free-kick into the bottom corner from the edge of the box, extending Swansea's unbeaten run against the Sky Blues to 17 matches, dating back to 1981. The same day, Grady Diangana's goal saw West Brom move within three points of fourth-placed Leeds in the Championship with a 1-0 win over the Yorkshire side at The Hawthorns. The DR Congo midfielder struck in the first half of a tight, breathless affair against a Leeds side who now have just one win in their past five games. Whites manager Daniel Farke switched to three at the back on the hour mark in a bid to prise open a determined Baggies defence but, despite a late siege of the opposition goal, they could find no way through. The home side could have won by more as Djed Spence kicked a Cedric Kipre shot off the line, although Leeds were denied a strong penalty claim when Kipre appeared to pull down Willy Gnonto as he shaped to shoot inside the box. The Swans have played the Baggies on 50 previous occasions, winning 22, losing 18 and drawing 10. In the corresponding fixture last season, the Swans ran out 3-2 victors with Joel Piroe netting the winner direct from a free kick for his 20th goal of last season: Turning to tomorrow’s match - which will be available to UK based supporters on Swans TV (£10) - the man in the middle will be Andy Davies. Hampshire-based Davies has taken charge of 11 Swans matches since 2017. The first of these was a Carabao Cup third round match between Reading and the Swans in west Berkshire. That match ended with a 2-0 win for the visiting Swans. Davies most recently took charge of the Swans in October 2022, also against Reading, when they came from 2-0 down to secure a thrilling 3-2 win. So far this season, Davies has taken charge of 12 matches. He has handed out 54 yellow cards and one red. Davies will be assisted by Graham Kane and Nigel Lugg, while Tom Reeves is the fourth official. Since Michael Duff was relieved of his duties, a return of eight points from six matches under the interim stewardship of Sheehan sees the Swans sitting in 17th place in the Championship just after the halfway point, with a eight-point buffer over Queens Park Rangers who are lying in 22nd as we head into the New Year. Rumour has it that West Brom do not possess the option to recall striker Kaplan Grant from his long spell at Cardiff, meaning that the season-ending injury to Josh Maja will be even more of a concern. Semi Ajayi was preferred to ex-Swan Kyle Bartley as the partner for Cedric Kipre at centre-back last time out, and the Nigerian should have done enough to keep his place in Baggies Manager Corberan's XI. As for the outcome, whilst I’m hoping for a win, I have a feeling that the Swans will manage to get a 1-1 draw against their promotion seeking opponents. Happy New Year
Cheers Taff and a happy new year to all I think your 1 - 1 call is pretty solid. I just don't know where we are right now other than just keeping our heads above the water.
Seems that Piroe is in the firing line: https://www.leedsunited.news/opinio....com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=dlvr.it
Sheehan is waiting on the fitness of those affected by a sickness bug ahead of the Coventry game, with the interim boss revealing that Jamie Paterson, Joe Allen and Mykola Kuharevich had been among those affected. Josh Key is facing a spell on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, while Josh Ginnelly is a longer-term absentee.
Liam Cullen and Jamal Lowe come into the Swansea City starting line-up for this afternoon’s opening Championship fixture of 2024 against West Bromwich Albion. Cullen came on from the bench to net the equaliser against Coventry City on Friday night and comes in for Yannick Bolasie. Lowe, meanwhile, replaces teenager Sam Parker, who drops to the bench along with Bolasie. The Swans are otherwise unchanged from the draw at the CBS Arena, with Carl Rushworth in goal. Ben Cabango, Harry Darling, Josh Tymon and Bashir Humphreys make up the defence, with captain Matt Grimes and Jay Fulton paired together ahead of them. Lowe joins Liam Walsh and Jamie Paterson will provide support to Cullen in attack. Swansea City: Carl Rushworth, Jay Fulton, Ben Cabango, Harry Darling, Matt Grimes (captain), Jamal Lowe, Jamie Paterson, Josh Tymon, Liam Cullen, Liam Walsh, Bashir Humphreys. Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Kristian Pedersen, Joe Allen, Jerry Yates, Yannick Bolasie, Charlie Patino, Nathan Wood, Kyle Naughton, Sam Parker. West Bromwich Albion: Alex Palmer, Darnell Furlong, Conor Townsend (captain), Cedric Kipre, Kyle Bartley, Jayson Molumby, Grady Diangana, Brandon Thomas-Asante, Alex Mowatt, Tom Fellows, Okay Yokuslu. Substitutes: Josh Griffiths, Semi Ajayi, Nathaniel Chalobah, Erik Pieters, Adam Reach, Gonzalo Avila Gordon, Caleb Taylor, Akeel Higgins, John Swift.
Thanks Taff and a Happy New Year to you all. Hopefully we can get a goal, if so then I think we can share the spoils in 1-1 draw
Bit of a stalemate but we need to be careful piddling about at the back as they have a strong press and the ball could easily stick in the water.
0 - 0 at half time. WBA looking much sharper than us and should be one up. If the second half continues in the same vein then there's only one winner. Step forward Mr Sheehan...
