Phil Sumbler
As the international break heads towards its final stages, the attentions of Michael Duff have naturally turned to the big league fixture that is on its way this weekend with the Swans ready to welcome leaders Leicester City to the Swansea.com Stadium.
It has been quite the start to the season for the 2016 Premier League Champions who have won ten of their eleven league games to date making their start the strongest start to a season in Championship history. Following relegation last season they were automatically tipped for an immediate return to the Premier League and nothing we have seen in the opening quarter of the season has suggested that it will be anything other than that with twenty three goals scored by the Foxes coupled with just six going past their defence.
Only an exceptional strong start from Ipswich Town (28 points from 11 games) has stopped them arriving in SA1 as runaway leaders and it will mean that the Swans face their toughest challenge of the season and certainly one to highlight the credentials of their own challenge which has seen us pick up thirteen of the last fifteen points available.
It has been quite the turnaround for the Swans in form and shows this game highlighted as 4th (Swansea) v 1st (Leicester) in the Championship form table over the past six games and potentially marks it as one of the most intriguing fixtures of the weekend.
Just four short weeks ago things looked lost for Michael Duff on the back of the 2-0 defeat to Cardiff which saw many calling for a replacement of the Swans boss after a run that had seen us fail to secure a league win in six. It is though just one injury time goal at QPR away from a perfect record since that low moment and the Swans go into the game for the first time in the top half of the table as a result of our run in form and head of two home games on the bounce – Watford arrive at the Swansea.com just three days after the weekend challenge.
Michael Duff has been keen to praise the character of his squad, something that he referred to after that defeat at Cardiff and one that he says has seen them through these past few weeks, a five match run that has seen us also score twelve goals whilst conceding three.
“After the Cardiff game I said it would tell us everything about our character as a group,” Duff said looking ahead to the return of league football.
“We had to stick together, it could not be about pointing fingers or blaming anyone else, and no-one did.
“As a group, the players have got their heads down, they have worked really hard and taken on the detail.
“We showed them a couple of things, and they have taken on the information and, ultimately, it is the players who deserve the credit because they have turned it around on the field.
“This is a a tough and demanding league. So, to keep going as they have is tremendous.
“There are lots of positives and we want the players to enjoy these moments.
“We have a big game against Leicester to look forward to, we will prepare and get ready for that because I think they are going to be the team to beat this year.
“But we certainly have a good platform to build on now, and we are a little bit disappointed that we do not have five wins out of five given how close we were at QPR.”
The Swans have five fixtures between now and the next international break which also includes an away tie at Ipswich, a real test of credentials lies head but the Swans could be up to it?
