TALKING TACTICS: Swansea City v Newcastle
15th August
Ahead of Saturday's Premier League meeting with Newcastle United, we have teamed up with football stats experts WhoScored.com to preview the encounter.
The Swans started their season on a hugely positive note, securing a 2-2 draw with defending champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in a match they could so easily have won.
The ten shots on target Garry Monk's side had over the 90 minutes was the most of all teams on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season and the onus will be to build on that with the welcome of Newcastle, who themselves kicked off the campaign with a 2-2 draw.
Swansea are expected to make home advantage count with the welcome of Steve McClaren's team. The hosts are unbeaten in their last three league meetings with Newcastle at the Liberty, winning two, during which the Magpies have shipped six goals.
Only QPR (49) conceded more goals away from home in the Premier League last season than Newcastle (36) though they have added Chancel Mbemba to their defensive ranks.
The man tasked with getting the better of the Newcastle defence is Bafe Gomis.
The Frenchman started the season in stunning form, first forcing Thibaut Courtois into action in the build up to Andre Ayew's goal in West London, before winning, and subsequently scoring, the penalty in the stalemate at Stamford Bridge.
With a second-half goal chalked off for offside, Gomis was difficult to contain prior to his withdrawal late on, as only Jefferson Montero (8.00) gained a better WhoScored.com rating (7.72) than the 30-year-old.
Newcastle have developed a statistically-calculated WhoScored.com weakness of 'stopping opponents from creating chances' and given the creative personnel at Monk's disposal, the Magpies may struggle to stem the Swans flow. With Gomis sporting a strength of 'finishing', he is expected to be the man to benefit from the inventive offensive performers behind him in Monk's favoured 4-2-3-1 formation.
For the opposition, though, they themselves have a striker more then capable of hitting the back of the net. Papiss Cisse also opened his account for the season against Southampton on Sunday, bagging the equaliser minutes before the interval in the 2-2 draw with Saints.
Against no team has the Senegal international netted more goals (four) than Swansea, all of which have been scored at the Liberty Stadium. Cisse evidently enjoys turning out against the Swans and the Newcastle faithful will be hoping he can maintain his goalscoring form in SA1 on Saturday.
In the wake of Wilfried Bony's move to Manchester City, there was ample pressure on Gomis to succeed the Ivorian, though the 30-year-old did not let weight of expectation hinder his performances. After a bright start to the current campaign, Swansea's star striker has the ability to add to at least double his tally in his quest to build on the seven league goals he netted last term.
*WhoScored.com is a unique website and one of the fastest growing in the sports industry, specialising in the in-depth analysis of detailed football data. Provided with unique stats, they compile and create comprehensive analysis on the major European divisions, including live match stats and player ratings. You can follow @WhoScored and their editorial assistant Ben McAleer on Twitter.
You can download our free Wallpaper Wednesday image featuring Bafe Gomis and Andre Ayew by clickingHERE
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