Preview: Swans v Norwich
Swansea City will bid to topple the Championship leaders when Norwich City come to the Liberty Stadium today (3pm).
Graham Potter’s side are full of confidence heading into a mouthwatering fixture having won three of their last four matches.
The best run of the Potter era really ought to have been even more impressive, for the Swans should have beaten Rotherham as well as Blackburn, Reading and Bolton.
But if Potter’s team are in the midst of a good stretch, Norwich head to Wales after a fabulous sequence of results.
Daniel Farke’s side began the season in stuttering fashion, winning one and losing three of their opening five games.
At that stage, after a somewhat disappointing 14th-place finish in the second tier last term, the top of the table seemed a long way off once more.
But Norwich have since found their form in spectacular style.
They have won nine and lost just one of their last 12 league games.
They have banked 15 points from their last five Championship outings and have the best away record in the division.
The Swans, therefore, should be under no illusions about the size of the challenge which faces them this afternoon.
Potter’s men must show the resilience which has given them the second best defensive record in the Championship, and be ruthless at the other end of the field when opportunities come their way.
Manage that and they will have a chance of halting the Canaries’ charge.
TEAM NEWS
The Swans are set to be without Tom Carroll after he suffered a recurrence of a hip complaint, while Luciano Narsingh remains on the sidelines.
But other than that, Potter looks like having a full squad to choose from.
Norwich are without midfielders Louis Thompson and Kenny McLean, winger Matt Jarvis and striker Carlton Morris. Club skipper Grant Hanley is fit after a long-term lay-off, but seems unlikely to be involved.
PRE-MATCH VIEWS
Graham Potter: “They are top of the league and looking good and we know this game will be a tough challenge for us.”
Former Swans and Norwich player Owain Tudur Jones: “The table is really starting to take shape now, and I can see Norwich staying in the top six throughout the season. It will be interesting to see how the Swans match up against them.”
Daniel Farke: "I think Graham (Potter) s doing an outstanding job in order to organise the team and bring his philosophy to the players. I know it's not an easy job when you take over in a difficult situation."
REMEMBER THE LAST TIME?
The Swans last faced Norwich in a Premier League clash in March 2016.
With boss Francesco Guidolin absent due to illness, Alan Curtis steered the Swans to a key victory against their relegation rivals as Gylfi Sigurdsson scored the only goal of the game.
These two clubs last met in the Championship back in April 2011.
Both teams would end up winning promotion at the end of the season, but Brendan Rodgers’s side were emphatic winners in this game as Fabio Borini, Mark Gower and Tamas Priskin all found the target.
PRIME NUMBERS
13 – The Swans have conceded only 13 goals in the Championship this season, the second best record in the division. Norwich have been breached on 20 occasions.
10 – Norwich striker Teemu Pukki has scored 10 times in 16 games since joining the club on a free in the summer.
