Preview | Cardiff City v Swansea City
Swansea City travel to the Cardiff City stadium to take on Cardiff City in the south Wales derby this afternoon .
It will be the 66th league meeting between the two sides with the Swans winning 25 of those previous matches.
The reverse fixture earlier this season ended in a comprehensive 3-0 victory for the home side at the Swansea.com Stadium - a comprehensive scoreline for a derby which has rarely been settled by more than one goal in recent years.
Swans come into the game, on the back of a goalless home draw with Birmingham City before the international break, while the home side are unbeaten in four, seeing off Stoke City in their last match.
Team news
Swans boss Russell Martin has a fully fit squad to choose from with Flynn Downes and Jamie Paterson both available.
The pair missed the draw with Birmingham before the international break after picking up minor muscle issues, but they have fully recovered and are in contention to face Cardiff.
This means it is only the suspended Ryan Manning who is unavailable for the Swans.
Pre-match views
Russell Martin: “It means a lot to us to have the chance to make history, but we have to embrace the challenge, it is nothing to be afraid of and we have to be ready to deliver.
“I feel the responsibility for everyone here. You arrive here and you immediately understand what it means to people who work here and live in the city.
“I am honoured to have that responsibility, this is a special club because of the people here.
“You feed off their passion and how they feel about the club. We feel the support they and the supporters have given us, and it has been incredible. We want to repay that.”
Steve Morison: "Both ourselves and Swansea are in a similar place in the league, having gotten there in different ways.
"We’re both in decent form recently, and it sets itself up for a decent game.
“It will be the first game off the back of a long break as well, so it will be a good game to go back into.
"We know how they like to play by dominating the ball, but it'll be a case of trying to control the atmosphere and emotions. When the moment comes, it's about putting your stamp on the game.
"Tomorrow it will be really nice to have that noise from the off. We need to make sure that the noise stays the same for the full 90 minutes. We have to play our part in that by performing."
Remember the last time?
Jamal Lowe secured the South Wales derby bragging rights as the striker’s brace settled matters on the Swans last visit to the Cardiff City Stadium.
Lowe opened the scoring in the sixth minute, firing home from close range to give his side the ideal start.
And he went on to seal the win with 18 minutes to go with a fantastic slaloming run through the Cardiff defence.
It was a result which left Swansea unbeaten in four South Wales derbies without conceding a goal. It was also a 10th clean sheet of the season as the Swans ended Cardiff’s run of four consecutive Championship wins. Click here to read the report in full.
Prime Numbers
15 – Joel Piroe’s goal against Peterborough United took the Dutchman to 15 in the league this season. This puts him fifth in the league leaderboard. The striker ranks even higher when it comes to being among the most clinical strikers in the league; he has hit the target with 70 per cent of his shots which puts him second just behind Coventry City’s Matty Godden.
14 – A goalless draw against Birmingham City last time out took the Swans to 14 league clean sheets this term with only six teams having kept more. Five of those shut outs have come away from home.