Tuesday 15 November 2011

Swansea City

They may seem like a bizarre team to do a post about, but it's worth a shot.

Swansea came up through the playoffs last season, and were expected to go straight back down (which could easily still happen, despite their league position). They have some good players in Danny Graham, Leroy Lita, Scott Sinclair, Ashley Williams and Michel Vorm, and they have shown that they are worthy of a place in England's top league.

Their season didn't start very well; a 4-0 hammering away to Man City, and then a 0-0 draw at home to lowly Wigan. They then lost to Shrewsbury Town, of League 2, 3-1 in the League Cup, and another 0-0 draw at home, this time against Sunderland, meant they still hadn't won.

Their next game was a 1-0 loss away to a reformed Arsenal squad, who were about to start their charge back to the top half, and in Swansea's next game they finally scored in a comfortable 3-0 home win against West Brom. Despite Torres being sent-off in the first half when they played Chelsea away, they couldn't take advantage of the extra man and lost 4-1. However another victory soon followed, a 2-0 home victory against Stoke. It was during this match that new signing Danny Graham scored his first competitive Swansea goal.

Graham also scored in the next game at fellow promotees Norwich City, but The Swans fell 3-1. Graham bagged his 3rd in a row against Wolves the week after, and Swansea were cruising to a 2-0 victory but Wolves scored twice in 2 minutes late on to rescue a point.

Another home victory followed, this time a 3-1 triumph against Bolton. Graham scored for the 4th match on the bounce, but also scored an own goal, which ultimately did not matter. They then faced Liverpool at Anfield, where they impressively came away with a 0-0 draw in a match that The Reds should have walked. But walk they did not, meaning Swansea secured their 13th point of the season.

Swansea are currently 4 points above the relegation zone in 10th places, and are one of only 4 teams yet to lose at home (Man City, Newcastle and Liverpool are the others). They have also conceded the least goals at home in the league, having kept 4 clean sheets and conceding just the 1. Their away form needs somewhat improving, having scored just 4 goals in 6 games and claimed just 2 away points, but the draw against Liverpool could pave the way for a good run away from Wales.

They could quite easily still go down, being just 4 points away from the relegation zone, but they will probably finish lower-mid table, around 13th position. I don't think they'll keep up this outstanding home form when the big boys come to visit, but they'll gain enough points to finish in a respectable position. They won't finish higher than 9th, and even then they will need to vastly improve their away form.

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