Season 20/21: The Swansea City v Nottingham Forest Match Thread

[swansnews]

Swansea City v Nottingham Forest
The SKYBET Championship
Liberty Stadium, Swansea
Wednesday 17th February 2021, 7pm kick off

View attachment Championship Logo.png

After an enforced weekend break caused by the postponement of the Swans trip to Sheffield Wednesday, it is the Liberty Stadium on Wednesday night for which we turn our focus as Steve Cooper looks to continue our unbeaten league run and, more importantly, an unbeaten run in the league at the Liberty that stretches back to our only home league defeat of the season against Huddersfield.

It feels familiar opponents as we line up against Forest for the second time in a month after they were beaten 5-1 in the FA Cup towards the end of last month and of course we will be aiming for a league double having beaten them at the City Ground at the end of November as well.

Forest will arrive in South Wales a little bit too close to the relegation places for their own comfort but the Swans will start as clear favourites and this is one of those games that we have to have pencilled in as a win when we take a look at remaining fixtures and points needed for promotion.

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!)

 

[swansnews]

THE LAST MEETING
Swansea City 5 Nottingham Forest 1
The Emirates FA Cup 4th Round
The Liberty Stadium, Swansea
23 January 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T-NhuqappQ

Why not check out our matchday thread from the game by clicking here

 

[swansnews]

LAST LEAGUE MEETING AT THE LIBERTY
Swansea City 0 Nottingham Forest 1
EFL Championship
19th September 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pPuDkaoIkw

 

[swansnews]

LAST TIME AT THE CITY GROUND
Nottingham Forest 0 Swansea City 1
EFL Championship
29th November 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc-dgXd1btI

Why not check out our matchday thread from the game by clicking here

 

[swansnews]

MEET THE REFEREE

View attachment Eltringham 1.jpg

Wednesday's referee is Geoff Eltringham

Geoff Eltringham will take charge of the Swans for the second time this season after being appointed as the referee for the midweek clash with Nottingham Forest. He was in charge of our 2-0 win over Wycombe earlier this season and has 17 Championship appearances under his belt so far this season - 51 yellows and 4 reds being his card count for the season.

He first up the whistle at the age of 15 and progressed through the ranks before being appointed to the National list of referees for 2009/10.

Geoff last season completed his 3rd year as a SG2 referee and he aims to build both actively as a referee whilst continuing his role as a FA Core coach and Durham FA academy director.

He has refereed over 400 games in the EFL, with his first a 2-2 draw between Morecambe and Hereford.

Eltringham was shown a yellow card himself last season by Swans striker Rhian Brewster in a draw at Preston and also has the unfortunate disposition of being a Sunderland fan even turning to refereeing so he could give up his season ticket at the Stadium of Light.

"It was hard," Geoff recalled. "At the time, I was devastated. Yet only in the short term, really. It was the best decision I've ever made and I've never regretted it for one minute. I hadn't been taking refereeing that seriously over the first few years but that had all changed.

"I was refereeing a park match and an assessor, Malcolm Langley, turned up to watch a different game. He watched a bit of my match as well and, when we got chatting afterwards, he said that maybe I should go for promotion. He set me on my way and we've become very good friends."

https://twitter.com/SwansOfficial/status/1223947252949037059



Eltringham will be assisted by Richard Wild and Mark Pottage whilst Kevin Johnson will be the fourth official.

 

[westside]

Forest got Glenn Murray

 

[Magic_Michu]

Not going to be an easy one... Forest are one of the form teams in the league.

I’d take a 1-0 win.

 

[Blackpooljack]

Not going to be an easy one... Forest are one of the form teams in the league.

I’d take a 1-0 win.

i'd hardly class beating Wycombe and Coventry as being labelled as " in form"

 

[monmouth]

Not going to be an easy one... Forest are one of the form teams in the league.

I’d take a 1-0 win.

Surely we’d all take a 1-0 win in every match between now and forever? We’d be European and world club champions.

 

[swansnews]

LAST LEAGUE GAME FOR THE SWANS
Swansea City 2 Norwich City 0
EFL Championship
5 February 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQiFC_1m6CI

 

[PSumbler]

Not going to be an easy one... Forest are one of the form teams in the league.

I’d take a 1-0 win.

Surely we’d all take a 1-0 win in every match between now and forever? We’d be European and world club champions.

Surely still not as good as Brentford though?

 

[swansnews]

LAST TIME OUT FOR FOREST
Nottingham Forest 0 Bournemouth 0
EFL Championship
13 February 2021

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

 

[Official Site News]

ANDRE AYEW | ENDURANCE AND ENERGY KEY TO MARATHON CAMPAIGN

Source: Swansea Official Site

Andre Ayew believes Swansea City must show endurance and energy to face up to the challenge of a marathon Championship campaign.

Steve Cooper’s side were due to face Sheffield Wednesday last Saturday, but a frozen pitch at Hillsborough meant the game was postponed.

That was the second game this term involving the Swans that has been moved to a later date, with a trip to Blackburn called off last month due to a waterlogged pitch.

It leaves the Swans likely facing another midweek match pencilled into a season that is already congested due to the coronavirus pandemic.

And Ayew feels a cautious approach, with minds set on only the next fixture ahead, will be a key factor to how the Swans’ season unfolds.

“The next game will be a hard one,” said the 31-year-old. “We know there's 19 games left and so many points.

“It's a marathon and we need to keep going to the end. The team who is going to be strong mentally and physically will be able to do something great.

“But with so many games to play, I think it’s important that we only look at the next game. And we will do that for the rest of the season.

“We are doing good but we won’t get carried away. We must keep working and work harder because we've got 19 games left and there are a lot of points to play for and get before we can think about anything.”

Ayew didn’t feature in the FA defeat to Manchester City last time out, but his goal against Norwich City was crucial as it sent the Swans on their way to a 2-0 win over the Canaries at the Liberty.

That goal ended a run of five games without finding the net for Ayew, who is the Swans’ joint-top scorer alongside Jamal Lowe.

The Ghanaian captain is now on nine goals for the season, but he insisted team results are far more important than personal satisfaction.

“It didn’t really bother me that I hadn’t scored for a while because the team has got good results,” he added. “What’s important is the results, not if I score or not.

“I aim to bring my best to the team in each game – I must do everything I can to help the team, and whoever finds the net then that’s great.

“It’s a real team attitude here, and that’s what has served us so well this season.”

 

[TheLoneRanger]

Not going to be an easy one... Forest are one of the form teams in the league.

I’d take a 1-0 win.

i'd hardly class beating Wycombe and Coventry as being labelled as " in form"

This will be no easy match on Weds, take out the FA Cup result and Forest are on a good run - they've only lost 1 of their last 12 games, with 6 wins and 7 clean sheets.

 

[monmouth]

i'd hardly class beating Wycombe and Coventry as being labelled as " in form"

This will be no easy match on Weds, take out the FA Cup result and Forest are on a good run - they've only lost 1 of their last 12 games, with 6 wins and 7 clean sheets.

Got to be winning these though, if we really want to threaten the top. Need to dominate lower table teams and put them away.