SWANS & BLUEBIRDS LATEST NEWS
SWANSEA City head to Southampton this weekend looking to get the new Premier League season off to the best-possible start.
The Swans have a decent record on the opening day since securing promotion to the top-flight in 2011, taking 10 points from a possible 18.
They will be hoping to add to that tally at St Mary’s against Mauricio Pellegrino’s men.
Here, we take a look at how the Swans have fared first up in each of the last six seasons. Manchester City 4 Swansea 0 Monday, August 15, 2011 Swansea’s first Premier League fixture could not have come much tougher as they were tasked with travelling to face big-spending Manchester City at the Etihad.
But Brendan Rodgers’ men gave a good account of themselves and held out for nearly an hour thanks to superb goalkeeping from Michel Vorm.
However, Edin Dzeko’s opener on 57 minutes proved the first of three goals in 14 minutes as Sergio Aguero and David Silva added to the home side’s tally.
Aguero, in his debut, rounded off the scoring with a brilliant 25-yard strike beyond Vorm. QPR 0 Swansea 5 Saturday, August 18, 2012 Having suffered a heavy defeat first up in 2011, it was Swansea handing out the opening-day hiding 12 months later as Michu and co ran riot against QPR at Loftus Road.
The Spaniard, who recently announced his retirement, opened the scoring after a Rob Green mistake.
The Swans hit the woodwork twice before Michu doubled the lead with a lovely curled finish, with Nathan Dyer adding a quickfire double to put the visiting fans in dreamland.
Scott Sinclair scored his final goal for the club late on to complete the hiding at the start of a campaign that would end with a top-half finish and the first major silverware of Swansea’s history in the trophy cabinet. Swansea 1 Manchester United 4 Saturday, August 17, 2013 The feast or famine nature of opening day results continued as Manchester United marked David Moyes’ bow as manager in fine style.
The Swans, whose season had started with Europa League preliminaries in July, and they started brightly.
But two goals in quick succession just past the half-hour mark from Robin van Persie and Danny Welbeck took the game away from Michael Laudrup’s men.
Van Persie made it three with a fantastic strike before Wilfried Bony opened his Premier League account with a classy finish.
But there was still time for Welbeck to add his second of the game. Manchester United 1 Swansea 2, Saturday, August 16, 2014 Having provided the first opponents for a new United boss 12 months earlier, the Swans were considerably less charitable towards the Scot’s successor Louis van Gaal.
Garry Monk’s well-organised side grew into the game and took the lead when Ki Sung-yueng coolly steered Gylfi Sigurdsson’s pass into the bottom corner.
Wayne Rooney’s overhead kick had the Red Devils level shortly after the interval, but Sigurdsson tapped home from close range to give Swansea their first league win at Old Trafford. Chelsea 2 Swansea 2 Saturday, August 8, 2015 Another tough first-day assignment, another impressive Swansea away performance as they held the reigning champions on their own patch amidst controversy at Stamford Bridge.
Oscar fired the Blues ahead, but a smart finish on debut from Andre Ayew saw the Swans level.
Parity did not last long as Federico Fernandez diverted Willian’s attempted cross over Lukasz Fabianski and into the net.
But Thibaut Courtois was sent off with over half an hour remaining for bringing down Bafetimbi Gomis, and the Frenchman got up to slot home the leveller on a day when Jefferson Montero simply tormented Branislav Ivanovic.
The game was also notable for the furious row Mourinho got into with doctors Eva Carneiro and Jon Fearn after they entered the field of play to treat Eden Hazard. Burnley 0, Swansea 1 Saturday, August 13, 2016 Swansea started the season under Francesco Guidolin with a hard-fought victory over newly-promoted Burnley at Turf Moor.
Leroy Fer scored the only goal of the game with eight minutes remaining, tapping in from close range after Tom Heaton could not hold a Fernando Llorente header.
However, it would not prove to be a sign of what was to come. Just six games later Guidolin would be gone.