After making a disastrous start to the season, Swansea City finally see a ray of hope after the appointment of new manager Carlos Carvalhal. The Swans were languishing at the bottom of the table for major portions of the season but have been a side reborn in recent weeks. Carvalhal’s team have defeated the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal within a week to overturn the team’s fortunes. They now sit in the 17th position and the gaffer would want to propel the Swans further and out of sight of the relegation zone.
Team News:
Leroy Fer and Wilfried Bony will be missing the entire season due to their respective injuries. Young starlet Renato Sanches will be sidelined due to a thigh injury.
Formation: 3-5-2
Defence:
Lukasz Fabianski will start as the goalkeeper as he has been absolutely phenomenal this season. Fabianski has tried his best to make up for any defensive errors and has been amongst the best goalkeepers in the league this season.
Alfie Mawson has played every game of the season and has been a consistent figure at the back for Swansea. His aerial ability helps the team to maintain solidity inside the box. Federico Fernandez and Mike van der Hoorn will partner him in the back three.
The trio has been decent in recent weeks and would hope to avoid any kind of lapse of concentration against the direct style of football that Burnley play.
Midfield:
Martin Olsson and Kyle Naughton will feature as the two wingbacks. They are not like the modern fullbacks and like to stay in their half as Swansea play a 5-3-2 most of the time.
Ki Sung-Yeung and Sam Clucas will play at the centre of the park. Clucas has been immense ever since his transfer from Hull City. He is a good distributor of the ball and makes some attacking forays into the other half too.
His ability to circulate the ball around and the knack of scoring important goals are being utilized well by Carvalhal. Ki Sung would drop back when Clucas surges ahead. The South Korean controls the tempo from the deep positions and allows the forwards to have a free run ahead of him.
Attack:
Andre Ayew and Nathan Dyer will play as the wide men in the Swansea lineup. They will look to provide width with their pace and skills on the ball. Both the wingers like to change their positions and make their way into the box. Dyer is yet to open his account this season and that pretty much sums up the season for the Swans till now.
Jordan Ayew will be starting up front. With the stakes at an all-time high, the Swans will have to put in everything so that the momentum generated doesn’t dissolve into thin air with a setback.
