Phil Sumbler
The Swans will put their dominance in the South Wales derby on the line this evening at the Cardiff City Stadium when they face local rivals Cardiff looking to record a fifth successive victory in the fixture.
On the back of the double double Michael Duff takes his side to the capital looking to secure his first win in the league as Swans manager at the sixth attempt. The domination referred to earlier on is a real thing with the Swans having won five of the last six meetings between the two sides and Cardiff not recording a victory in front of fans for almost ten years.
Four of those last five Swans wins in this fixture have been by more than one goal, something that Cardiff have not achieved in this fixture in the league for almost sixty years. 1965 was the last time a league victory went to the blue half of South Wales by more than a one goal margin although they can claim a 3-1 win in the League Cup back in 1988.
Fixtures since the turn of the century have seen sixteen league meetings with the Swans holding a 9-4 advantage in terms of wins and a 27-13 advantage in goals scored. It is fair to say that this fixture has definitely been dominated by the Swans. And that is a domination we want to continue.
It has been a long two weeks since the Swans were so disappointing at home against Bristol City and in that time Michael Duff will have thought long and hard about his team selection for this fixture. Four deadline day signings who were unavailable to him in that last league outing will be in his mind and as we look at team predictions we can see Bashir Humphries, Kristian Pedersen and Josh Tymon all getting a start this evening as Duff goes in search of the first clean sheet of his reign as well.
If Pedersen and Tymon are both to start then there will be no start for either Ben Cabango – scorer of the winner so famously back in April – or Nathan Wood with the Wales international maybe the most likely to miss out on a starting berth.
Harrison Ashby is another one who could see his place in jeopardy for this game with Humphries taking the left wing back role allowing Josh Key to go to the right hand side. Matt Grimes will naturally retain his place in the centre of midfield and Jerry Yates and Liam Cullen are both expected to play their part up front which leaves two places in the Swans starting line up. Jay Fulton, Charlie Patino, Jamie Paterson, Ollie Cooper and Joe Allen will all no doubt fancy their chances of taking that place but I can see a situation where Patino and Allen take those places but this really is a difficult team to predict.
Predicted line up: Rushworth, Key, Tymon, Wood, Pedersen, Humphries, Grimes, Allen, Patino, Cullen, Yates.
Michael Duff: “These are games you want to be involved in, you spend your life watching games like this and dreaming of playing in front of a full house and scoring a winner in a derby.
“You can feel that connection here between the club and the people. It’s really powerful, the people here have been so welcoming, and when I go walking the dog on the beach people let me know what it means.
“These are the games you remember in your career, you are part of a tiny bit of history and you want to be remembered as a team that succeeds in these fixtures.”
Matt Grimes: “Everyone at the club and in the city knows what the game means.
“It’s one of the first things you are told when you get here and I can remember being told it when I first got here.
“I remember my first derby, I got a decent taste for it and I’ve played in eight of them now and I’ve become one of the people who goes around just making sure we all know what it means to people.
“You can feel it when you are around the city with people talking about it, you know exactly what it means.”
Erol Bulut: “When I signed as the Manager for Cardiff City, I knew what derbies mean. I’ve had a few in my career, both as a player as a manager, so I know the feeling well.
“When you sign for a club, you don’t need them to be explained by somebody else how important they are. You should know how to handle it. I can say only one thing for Saturday, and that’s on the field will be a team that I don’t need to tell what a derby means; they know it already.”
The game at the Cardiff City Stadium kicks off at 7.45pm and is live on Sky Sports.
