Stoke City v Swansea City Competition - Sky Bet Championship Date - 25 January 2020 Kick off - 3.00pm Venue - bet365 Stadium Following their deserved 2-1 home victory over Wigan Athletic, next up for Steve Cooper’s Swansea squad is an away match against Stoke City. Last Saturday, the Swans returned to the Championship play-off places, coming from behind to beat relegation-threatened Wigan. Wigan took an early lead when Nathan Byrne smartly finished a counter-attack. Swansea levelled two minutes later as Conor Gallagher set up fellow loanee Rhian Brewster to score his first goal since joining the Swans. The Swans pushed for a winner in the second half and Andre Ayew provided it with a cheeky backheel. The result lifted Swansea up to fifth place in the Championship, while Wigan remain second from bottom of the table, still two points away from safety. Two days later, Stoke travelled to the Hawthorns to play top of the table, West Brom. Since their first meeting on Christmas Day 1925, the Swans and Stoke have played each other on 73 occasions, with Swansea winning 23, Stoke winning 29 and 21 draws. In the reverse fixture at The Liberty in October, Stoke ran out 1-2 victors, despite the Swans taking an early lead courtesy of an Andre Ayew tap in Turning to Saturday, despite both sides needing 3pts, I’m going for a 1-1 draw.
A convincing win for the Swans please. We are due some luck up there and perhaps the match pfficials might not be homers on this occasion.
Yes not a happy hunting ground for us. Pre our loan signings I would have gone for 0-0 but inclined to think this might be 2-2 but oh wouldn’t it be nice if we came away with a 0-2
I've always felt the Stoke games were always the ones that generated the least interest for me....... I still don't have any faith in us having any sort of consistency so I honestly don't know how we'll do. I don't think there'll be many goals in it though, maybe 1 - 0 either way.
Marc Guehi makes his Swansea City debut as one of two changes for this afternoon’s clash with Stoke City. The on-loan Chelsea defender comes in for Ben Wilmot in the heart of the Swans defence, while Jake Bidwell also comes into the back four as Kyle Naughton misses out. On the bench, Joe Rodon makes his return to the matchday squad for the first time since October having recovered from ankle tendon surgery. That means Freddie Woodman is in goal, with Connor Roberts and Ben Cabango joining Guehi and Bidwell in the Swansea defence. Captain Matt Grimes again partners Conor Gallagher in midfield, with a trio of Andre Ayew, George Byers and Bersant Celina operating ahead of them. Rhian Brewster – fresh from netting his first Swansea goal against Wigan – leads the line for the visitors. Swansea City: Freddie Woodman; Connor Roberts, Ben Cabango, Marc Guehi, Jake Bidwell; Conor Gallagher, Matt Grimes (captain); Andre Ayew, George Byers, Bersant Celina; Rhian Brewster. Substitutes: Erwin Mulder, Ben Wilmot, Joe Rodon, Jay Fulton, Yan Dhanda, Wayne Routledge, Borja Baston.
Well Paul Merson says we’ve started brightly and the better team, had a chance early on but Brewster and Ayew couldn’t get to the ball. Great save by Butland and we’re ripping them apart.
"Incidentally, this is the first time since the 2008-09 season that only one Championship fixture is being played on Saturday on FA Cup fourth round weekend - Blackpool won 2-0 against Birmingham that season."
Amazing innit... you can stream any TV or movie to your phone or your toaster but you can't get a simple footie match!