The Swansea City captain will lead his side into action against their local rivals on Saturday believing that the difference in spending sprees between the two sides should lead to the visitors having the ‘favourites’ tag hung around their necks.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Western Mail, Monk said \u201cYou can\u2019t spend that sort of money and put players on those wages and not be favourites<\/p>\n
\u201cThey should always start these games as favourites, and I think they do. They are worth those price tags and they have some great players.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we like the tag of underdogs. We proved that last season, not just against Cardiff, but against other teams as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can compete with them and even beat them now and again. We\u2019ll be using that to keep us up for the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere wasn\u2019t a derby for so long until last season, and they were three great games,\u201d said Monk, who made his 150th Swansea appearance at Scunthorpe last weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like a normal derby clash where everyone was trying to smash each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth teams tried to play football and it had a bit of everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be no different this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest game of the season \u2013 and we want to get one over on them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a real attacking force and have been scoring goals for fun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are threats from all over the pitch, not just from Chopra.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got a really good squad now, and they\u2019re not second in the table for nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be right on our game to be near them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re at home, so the emphasis is on us to take the game to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hope your form and momentum will count for something, but it sometimes doesn\u2019t in derby games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s taken its time, but we\u2019re ticking along nicely now,\u201d said Monk.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost two key players in Jordi Lopez and Jason Scotland, but the majority are still here, and we\u2019ve added some quality players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want people to forget the people who have left.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey did a great job for us when they were here.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the club moves on, and we move on as players.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see the confidence in Craig Beattie now, and that will spur the other strikers on.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything\u2019s going in the right direction and there\u2019s still a lot more to come from us.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we go into the Christmas period in contention near the top, we\u2019ll be trying to stay involved for the rest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n