ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TODAY’S LIBERTY CLASH
SWANSEA City return to Championship action today as they host Birmingham City at the Liberty Stadium. Here’s the full lowdown on the game. WHAT TIME IS KICK-OFF? The match gets underway at midday today. IS IT ON TV? Yes, the match will be shown live on Sky Sports.
Coverage on their Football channel begins at 11:30am, half an hour before kick-off.
Day Passes for all Sky Sports channels on Now TV are available at £8.99. The pass lasts for 24 hours once you’ve activated it, and you can do so at any time, even a few minutes before the game.
Alternatively, you can follow live updates on our blog which will be on WalesOnline. WHAT IS THE LATEST TEAM NEWS? The Swans look set to be without wingers Nathan Dyer and Aldo Kalulu for the visit of the Blues.
Dyer suffered a hamstring injury early on in the 3-2 win over Preston, while Kalulu had problems in the game against the Lilywhites as well as the 0-0 draw with Derby.
However, Tom Carroll is in the frame to feature.
The central midfielder has not played for Swansea under Cooper but stepped up his return from hip surgery by starting for the Under-23s against Aston Villa on Monday night.
As for the away side, they will be without Jefferson Montero who is ineligible to face his parent club.
Jake Clarke-Salter, Kerim Mrabti and Cheick Keita are all back in training but are not yet match fit to feature in South Wales.
Jonathan Grounds (calf ) and Maikel Kieftenbeld (knee) are both sidelined, although the Blues could welcome back Maxime Colin (hamstring) who will undergo a late fitness test. WHAT HAVE THE MANAGERS SAID? Steve Cooper (Swansea): “Birmingham are going to offer certain threats so we want to be good at particular things in games,” he said.
“It’s just that mentality of striving to be better than where we’re at. They’ve had a good start in terms of points.
“It’s going to be very different to QPR in terms of how they play. We’ve got to be a team that can adapt to different situations.
“They will play a different formation and style. They’re a real threat off set-pieces.” Pep Clotet (Birmingham): “Swansea are a team that feel very comfortable at home because they have this culture with the way they play,” he said.
“All the fans buy into it and it gives them extra confidence. It’s very important that we try to threaten that comfort as much as possible.
“We need to be a threat going forward and give them a game.
“We are in a position that we back ourselves to go there and learn from the games that we’ve played away this season and see the things we need to improve on to be competitive.” WHAT ARE THE LATEST BETTING ODDS? Swansea City win 1.88 Draw 3.6 Birmingham City win 4.2 (Odds courtesy of The Pools, correct at time of publishing) WHO IS THE REFEREE? Andy Woolmer will take charge of proceedings at the Liberty Stadium.
The Northamptonshire official was the man in the middle for the Swans’ away win over Brentford and the home victory against Middlesbrough last term.
He was also the referee when Bristol City beat the Swans 2-0 at Ashton Gate in February.
Nigel Lugg and Akil Howson will be his assistants, while Antony Coggins is the fourth official.
IAN MITCHELMORE