Planet Swans ArchivesA point at minimum tomorrow will take their run to eighteen games stretching back to November 16 when they were beaten at the Liberty Stadium by…..Huddersfield Town. A solitary second half goal was enough that night to give the Terriers victory – the Swans only league defeat in more than five months. Their last league defeat on the road was back on 22 September when they were beaten 2-0 by Leeds United, part of their great start to the season.
Since then it has been pretty much one way traffic as the Swans have brushed all aside them in the league and – despite the odd hiccup in the cup competitions – there have been very few downsides to a season that sees them head into the weekend with a twelve point advantage over second and a fourteen point lead over third. And with the two sides immediately below them clashing live on Sky on Monday night, victory against one of their bogey sides will see the Swans extend that advantage even if just for 48 hours.
Huddersfield though have a habit of upsetting the apple cart – their win at the Liberty this season followed a league double over us the season before and four points from six on our first back in League One – including coming from two goals down at the Liberty. In fact the Swans have only ever won two of their previous league encounters at Huddersfield – from 24 encounters. 16 of those have resulted in home wins and it is 16 years since the Swans last triumphed in Huddersfield – back in the days when they played at their old Leeds Road ground.
But this Swansea side are a different prospect and much has changed within them since that night in November when Huddersfield stole the points at the Liberty. In fact, that game was the last league encounter in which the Swans found themselves a goal behind. And since the game whilst the Swans have amassed 45 points from their 17 games, Huddersfield have managed just 20 from the 16 they have played. The two point gap that evening has stretched to 27 such has been the Swans dominance on the league front.
Swansea will be forced into some changes due to the injury to Marcos Painter and Kevin Austin is expected to deputise at left back. Both Ferrie Bodde and Leon Britton should return to bolster a midfield that has been so dominant in the league and there is a chance that Roberto will revert to his home formation as opposed to his 4-4-2 he has tended to use away from home. This would give us a line up of
Dorus
Rangel Tate Monk Austin
Britton Bodde Pratley
Butler Scotland Robinson
Huddersfield have this week been dealt a blow with the news that long serving midfielder Danny Schofield is to leave the club at the end of the season but he will feature against the Swans whilst relatively recent signing Robert Page is likely to be at the heart of a defence which has strengthened significantly since he joined.
On the prediction front you would have to say the form book says a Swansea win but then again the form book says a Swansea win for everything at this moment in time, I would happily take a point on this occasion but it would be nice to get one over on them on their own patch for a change so let’s be brave and go 2-1 Swansea.
