Bristol City v Swansea City – Pearson and Martin on the battle ahead

They say that there is no rest for the wicked.  That may or may not be true but there is certainly no rest for your Championship football manager in August as Bristol City and Swansea City prepare for their fourth Championship fixture inside two weeks this evening when they meet at Ashton Gate.

Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Friday has been the five games for Russell Martin inside 13 days thanks to the added complication of a Carabao Cup fixture at Reading and he will take his side across the Bridge this evening in search of his first league win as manager and off the back of a pretty dismal display against Stoke in midweek.

One point from three league games would not have been the return he imagined when he made the switch from MK Dons three weeks back but he is focused on trying to put that record straight and come back from Bristol with three points under his belt.

“It’s been so hectic and intense. There has not been a lot of time on the training pitch, but it is what it is,” he told the Swans official website.

“It’s tough but I think our players will be energised with the game being on Sky, we also know we are going to have a lot of our supporters making the trip and we are motivated to deliver for them because they give us such fantastic backing home and away.

“It’s another quick turnaround but that’s the good thing about football is that we’ve got a quick opportunity to set the record straight.

“We’ll go there and try and impose our own game and see where it takes us.”

Bristol City go into the same with a perfect symmetrical record of one win, draw and defeat from three games with five goals in both the for and against column and could end the night joint top of the table, joining the other 6 teams who have 7 points to date.

Pearson told Robins TV: “Getting to a point where most of the players are available and if we get contact injuries in games, there’s little we can do about that. We want to avoid the soft-tissue injuries and we’re doing that because the players are in a decent condition now.”