Season 20/21: The Official Swansea City v Watford Match Thread

[swansnews]

Swansea City v Watford
The Liberty Stadium, Landore, Swansea
Saturday January 2nd 2021, 3pm Kick Off

The Swans will open their 2021 fixture list with the visit of Watford to the Liberty Stadium on Saturday looking to extend a good home record that has seen us beaten just once at the Liberty this season.

It was frustration in midweek for the Swans as they failed to get the result that their dominance deserved against Reading but a win against a Watford side looking for an immediate return to the Premier League will see all that forgotten very quickly.

2020 was a year where football stood still for three months in line with the rest of the country in a global pandemic and it is a position which has seen us not watching a match inside the ground since March when we drew 0-0 with West Brom before everything paused for a period.

That said a play off appearance and a top 3 position at the moment made for a good year for the Swans and Steve Cooper will be hoping that his side builds on the strong foundations in the New Year with the Watford match heralding the halfway mark of the season.

As ever on Planet Swans we have for you some of the most comprehensive pre-match coverage in our matchday thread that will bring you all we need to know over the next few days as well as all the chat during the match together with every post match follow up you would wish to read (and maybe even more!)

The match will be streamed on Swans TV - details to follow

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[swansnews]

Vital Statistics

Last 6 meetings
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Last 6 at the Liberty
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Per Match Stats
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Goal Stats
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Discipline
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Team characteristics
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Top Scorers
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[swansnews]

LAST TIME AT THE LIBERTY
Swansea City 1 Watford 2
Premier League
23 September 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzST7tZ4wzg

 

[swansnews]

LAST LEAGUE ENCOUNTER AT VICARAGE ROAD
Watford 1 Swansea City 2
The Premier League
30 December 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65qoepOrhII

 

[swansnews]

LAST MEETING
Watford 2 Swansea City 1
The EFL Cup
24 September 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-A08xI7hsI

 

[swansnews]

LAST OUT FOR THE SWANS
Swansea City 0 Reading 0
The EFL Championship
30 December 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdXcFwaLU1U&t=17s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcJRvUcztf8&t=169s

 

[swansnews]

LAST OUT FOR WATFORD
Watford 1 Norwich City 0
The EFL Championship
26 December 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSq7Fjtn-FQ

 

[Longlostjack]

This will be a tough game. They haven’t played since Boxing Day. I‘d take a point.

 

[A4Jack]

God that home game in the premier league was awful. Remember us bouncing back in the second half with Mesa coming on and having probably his best game. Then we blew it and Richarlison scored in injury time

 

[swansnews]

Meet the Ref

View attachment Darren Bond.jpg

Saturday's referee is Darren Bond

The name is Bond, Darren Bond. Well, someone had to do it with Bond taking charge of the Swans clash against Watford at the Liberty this Saturday.

It will be his 13th Championship game of the season, the previous 12 having seen him yield 39 yellow cards and 2 red cards. It will be his first time in charge of either the Swans or Watford this season.

He did referee the League Cup meeting between the two sides last season (Watford won 2-1 - highlights here) and his last Swans game was our 1-0 win over Bristol City back in July.

Bond was appointed to the EFL Referee list in 2012 and more recently added to the Select Group 2 referees list in 2016. He has refereed more than 200 times in the EFL

As ever on Planet Swans we like to do our research on the referee and found a facebook group dedicated to Bond (Darren Bond is the worst football league referee - click here) although with just 21 people "liking" the page it never really became a campaign!

Then QPR manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink once described a game taken charge of by Bond as being like the 'Wild Wild West' telling the BBC after the game "If the referee is going to give those kind of decisions then I don't think he is fit enough to whistle in the Championship. Certain decisions were ridiculous. It was like the Wild Wild West out there.

"We are all saying we need to protect the referee and players are not allowed to surround them

"It is because of referees like this that it happens. He makes it bad for other referees - the good ones.

"I am sorry for the fans that we had to lose in this manner. It wasn't meant to be for us to get the three points because of two referee's decisions."

View attachment Bond books Grimes.jpg

 

[CurtessECarr]

Last game against the relegated sides. Norwich lost deserved something. Bmouth drew probably should have lost. This one will be tough for us but let's hope we make it tougher for them.

 

[monmouth]

Last game against the relegated sides. Norwich lost deserved something. Bmouth drew probably should have lost. This one will be tough for us but let's hope we make it tougher for them.

40 points at halfway is terrific/oystandun so, for my money, this is a shot to nothing against one of the four promotion favourites (the three relegated sides and Frankenfukker's brentford.)

 

[Swans Trust News]

Read more

 

[Londonlisa2001]

Last game against the relegated sides. Norwich lost deserved something. Bmouth drew probably should have lost. This one will be tough for us but let's hope we make it tougher for them.

40 points at halfway is terrific/oystandun so, for my money, this is a shot to nothing against one of the four promotion favourites (the three relegated sides and Frankenfukker's brentford.)

I honestly believe we’re a good striker away from promotion.

Fingers crossed we find one.

 

[Official Site News]

MATT GRIMES | WE WANT TO KEEP PUSHING FORWARD IN 2021

Source: Swans Official Site

Matt Grimes wants Swansea City to take the next step in their development as they look to build on a positive 2020 when they begin the new year against Watford on Saturday.

In a calendar year that posed so many challenges for so many, the Swans were at least able to provide some cheer for supporters by being among the Championship’s best performers.

Steve Cooper’s side reached the play-offs, and entered 2021 among the contenders for the automatic promotion places, albeit the head coach was quick to point out there is a lot of football still to be played this season.

They reach the halfway point of the campaign by taking on a Watford side who are also in the upper reaches of the division, and have retained a strong of quality and depth despite relegation from the Premier League.

It makes for an eagerly-anticipated encounter, and one captain Grimes hopes can start a year where Swansea continue to make strides.

“It goes without saying that 2020 has been a very difficult year for everyone, there’s no getting away from that,” he said.

“But, from a football perspective, I feel like we came on leaps and bounds as a side.

“We have put ourselves in a good position going into the new year, but the challenge is to keep progressing because that’s what it takes.

“If you stand still, you get overtaken, so we have to keep going.

“Fingers crossed we can also be back playing in front of crowds in 2021, which is what everyone wants and would only help us given how incredible our support has been.”

Facing the Hornets will bring Grimes and a number of others up against a familiar face in Ben Wilmot.

The defender spent last season on loan with the Swans, and will always receive a warm welcome in SA1 after netting the winner in a South Wales derby.

But Grimes hopes to make sure his former colleague does not have more reasons to cheer at the Liberty this weekend.

“Obviously, Ben was a very good player for us last year,” he added.

“He scored that goal against Cardiff, so he will have fond memories of coming to the Liberty but we want to make sure that is not the case this time.

“It will be another difficult game; they’ve got some very good players with Premier League quality.

“We’ll have to be on top of our game if we’re going to get anything from it.

“But we’re full of confidence, playing well and we’re unbeaten at home for a little while, so we’ll be ready to go.”