Swans suffer midfield blows

Bersant Celina, Jay Fulton and Tom Carroll will all miss Swansea City’s trip to Stoke City on Tuesday (8pm).

Graham Potter has revealed the three midfielders will all be absent because of injury, as will club skipper Leroy Fer.

That leaves the Swans boss with a conundrum when it comes to who will play in the centre of the pitch.

Matt Grimes, who was arguably the Swans’ best player in their draw with Nottingham Forest, looks certain to keep his place, while Yan Dhanda and Kyle Naughton look like the leading candidates to join him.

Potter could also turn to youngster George Byers, who put in a solid shift in the Carabao Cup tie with Crystal Palace.

Celina picked up an ankle ligament injury thanks to a nasty tackle from Forest’s Saidy Janko, while Fulton felt ill after suffering a cut to the head.

Carroll missed the Forest game because of a hip problem while Fer has a groin injury.

“Bersant will miss out – the game will come too soon,” said Swans boss Potter.

“He has responded well initially but there’s still a bit of swelling there.

“It’s too soon for Jay as well. It’s a precautionary measure because of the injury he has.

“There were no signs of concussion during the game on Saturday, but he has had a nasty bang and a big cut on the side of his head.

“He feels fine, but we will take it day by day with Jay.”

Potter hopes a number of his midfielders could be back in contention by the time the Swans go to Middlesbrough on Saturday.

“Tom had a good session yesterday and we think Saturday is more the target for him,” Potter added.

“It’s the same with Leroy, but again we will see as the days go by how he is.”