Phil Sumbler
It’s been a relatively quiet week at Swansea City but expect all that to change this week as the anticipation of the first derby day of the season builds during the week ahead of an evening kick off in the capital on Saturday evening.
7.45pm on a Saturday night may well feel like something out of the ordinary but then again this fixture is anything but ordinary with Cardiff desperate to end a run of four consecutive Swansea City wins.
After so many years of no side achieving a league double all that changed over the past two seasons with the Swans achieving a comprehensive double in 2021/22 and then repeating that feat last time around thanks to a last minute winner from Ben Cabango that will still be stinging around the corridors of the Cardiff City Stadium.
Neither side has made the start to the new season that they would have wanted with Cardiff’s sole league victory being the only maximum return for either of the South Wales sides and that form brings a new level of pressure to a game that often doesn’t need any more pressure than is already in place.
So when you are a relatively new Swansea City manager and you go into the game on the back of no league wins in your five outings to date the last thing you probably need is that the sixth has the spice of a local derby on the back of the side you manage having won 7 of the last 9 meetings between the two sides.
Duff may have spoken after the last league outing about the game not being “the be all and end all” but he will be more than aware of the importance of the fixture to the supporters of both sides and he will want that victory for local bragging rights as much as for his own personal managerial record in SA1.
“We need to go and give a better account of ourselves,” he added after that poor defeat to Bristol City.
“We need to show more fight, more spirit, more doggedness. That will give us a chance of getting a result.”
The Swans were a busy team on the day before that game against Bristol City but whilst their four deadline day signings were not available for selection on that day they are very much in the plans for the weekend clash which provides Duff with some selection questions that he may answer over the course of the week.
Jamal Lowe, Josh Tymon, Bashir Humphreys and Kristian Pedersen all arrived in Swansea on that busy deadline day to take the new signing count for the summer window to thirteen and all you would assume have some chance of making an appearance on Saturday when Duff confirms to his squad the players he has entrusted to continue that run of dominance.
Duff will also be factoring into his thinking the freshness of his squad after the international break and will be hopeful that his international players report back with no injury concerns and give hin the full range of his squad to think of.
When you look back at the deadline say signings I would go as far as saying that Tymon, Humphreys and Pedersen will all feature in a rearranged defence that is yet to keep a clean sheet this season – something that Duff is known to be very keen to reverse.
Jerry Yates is expected to continue to lead the line for the Swans in the game but there is a chance that Lowe could replace Liam Cullen in the starting line up although the goal from the latter last time around is probably going to see him keep the nod although it seems inevitable that Lowe will be seen at some point during the game.
There aren’t expected to be too many other changes for the Swans in the game although there remains a few players pushing for a start including Josh Ginnelly, Joe Allen and even Mykola Kuharevich.
As it stands our predicted line up for the game would look like
Rushworth
Wood – Tymon – Pedersen
Key – Allen – Grimes – Patino – Humphreys
Cullen – Yates
There is also the chance that Duff could switch to a more traditional back four with Tymon/Pedersen providing the central pairing with Key and Humphreys in the right back positions. Should this be the case then expect Ginnelly to come into the side at the expense of Nathan Wood.
With a bench then that would include a selection of Ben Cabango, Harry Darling, Harrison Ashby, Jamal Lowe, Josh Ginnelly, Jay Fulton, Mykola Kuharevich, Ollie Cooper, Nathan Tjoe-A-On and Jamie Paterson the options for the Swans are there for all to see not just in terms of coming off the bench but options available to us for selection.
And that is the dilemma that Michael Duff faces this week – what will his final decision be?
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I sometimes question your lack of energy in terms of being much morr critical of the current owners, who in my mind are little different to the likes of Tony Petty. I’m writing this as a swans fan who was present and marched through the city centre and financially supported the takeover with Mel Nurse.