Preview | Burnley U21s v Swansea City U21s

12th January
Academy
Joel Cotterill

Swansea City Under-21s face Burnley in their final Premier League Cup Group G fixture at the County Ground on Friday afternoon. (2pm kick-off).

The fixture was originally due to take place at Victory Park, the home of Chorley FC, on December 20. However, a waterlogged pitch forced a postponement and a change of venue.

Despite the Swans being unable to advance in the competition, they will look to end their cup campaign on a positive note.  

In the reverse fixture back in November, the age-grade side staged a superb comeback to prevail 5-2 in a seven-goal thriller at Landore.

The Swans had trailed to a Michael Mellon double at the interval, but a magnificent display after the break saw Ben Lloyd grab a brace, while Lincoln McFayden, Cameron Congreve and Joe Thomas were also on the scoresheet.

The Clarets will have it all to play for as the Lancashire outfit can still progress to the last-16 stage, with a game in hand against Arsenal also due to be played in January. 

Last time out, Burnley secured their first win of the cup campaign with a 3-1 victory over Stoke City

Pre-match views

Coach Anthony Wright: "We'll treat this final game just like any other game. We've already shown we can compete against the top teams in this competition, so hopefully we can end on a good performance and result. 

"The boys will be up for it, as it is all about development and implementing our way and principles, and I'm sure they would want to put in a good shift."

Midfielder Sam Leverett: "Going on to Burnley, we've just got to treat it as another opportunity to show what we can do. We will want to get the three points and show our style of play once more, and we need to use this disappointment of not being able to get through the right way.

"Hopefully, we can bring the confidence levels back up for the second half of the season.”

Previous meeting in Lancashire - February 26, 2018.

Burnley 0 Swansea City 1

Kenji Gorre scored the only goal of the game as Swansea City beat Burnley to advance to the knock-out stages of the Premier League Cup.

The winger was on target eight minutes before half-time at Tameside Stadium with his 11th goal of the season.

His strike proved to be enough as the young Swans secured second place in Group D and, with it, their passage into the last 16 of the competition.

Swansea City U23s: Steven Benda, Mael Davies, Aaron Lewis, Jack Evans, Cian Harries (captain), Ben Cabango, Jordon Garrick, Marco Dulca, Botti Biabi (Courtney Baker-Richardson, 73), Liam Cullen (Kees De Boer, 87), Kenji Gorré.

Unused substitutes: Causso Darame, Gregor Zabret, Brandon Cooper.