Manchester City are undoubtedly enjoying themselves. Their recent derby clash with neighbours United saw them record an impressive win, while their style and panache in dismissing Jose Mourinho’s men saw them lauded at home and abroad. Now 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League, their dominant form and the recent European draw has seen them become the bookies favourite to taste Champions League glory too.
While Pep Guardiola will be looking to keep his well-oiled machine rolling, Swansea City will welcome the Blues to the Liberty Stadium with much trepidation. The Welsh side currently sit 19th, two points from safety and boasting the league’s worst attack after scoring just nine times in their 16 league fixtures to date.
Yet while their finishing has been woeful, Paul Clement can at least take some pride in seeing his team boast the division’s sixth-best defensive record, and they will need every ounce of that reliance against a free-scoring City side. Swansea’s have cycled through a variety of formations this term, never really settling on a particular shape but usually looking particularly strong down the right flank.
For the visitors, Guardiola truly does have an embarrassment of riches at his disposal. Seemingly able to chop and change his starting XI at will, his favoured 4-3-3 framework brings the best from his entire squad. Their 14-game winning run is a new Premier League record that they will be looking to extend here, and the fact they have scored at least two goals in each of their last nine outings looks particularly ominous for Swansea.
City are strong in every department, shining at set pieces, blistering on the counter-attack and of course happy to simply sit and hold the ball. Unsurprisingly, they lead all sides in terms of possession (66%), pass completion rate (88.6%), shots per game (17.8) and passes per game (723.6) according to WhoScored.com. That the latter figure is almost 100 higher than any other team, and as their goal tally shows, it is certainly not an idle return, Guardiola demanding that they punish every opponent as much as possible.
Swansea at least know they have no injury problems to overcome, defender Kyle Bartley the only long-term absentee after he was ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn medial ligament in his knee. For City, John Stones and left back Benjamin Mendy continue to be missing with their own injury problems, while captain Vincent Kompany looks like he could be set to miss more time after coming off early in the Manchester derby. Given the poor form of Swansea, this clash is likely to provide Guardiola with a chance to rotate his line up, which could well mean a return to the starting XI for Sergio Aguero.
Probable Lineups:
Swansea City (4-5-1): Fabianski; Naughton, Fernandez, Mawson, Olsson; Ayew, Fer, Mesa, Sung-Yueng, Routledge; Bony
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson; Danilo, Otamendi, Mangala, Zinchenko; De Bruyne, Gundogan, Fernandinho; Bernardo Silva, Aguero, Sterling
