Swansea City v Leicester City: Monk out to derail visitors´ title bid
Two teams who have had contrasting starts to the season meet in the Premier League on Saturday when Swansea City welcome Leicester City to the Liberty Stadium.
The hosts have only won one of their last 10 league matches, losing six of those games to see them slide down to 15th in the table and pile the pressure on manager Garry Monk.
But their opponents’ mood is completely different, with pre-season relegation candidates Leicester flying high in second place and only behind leaders Manchester City on goal difference.
Claudio Ranieri’s men have only lost one of their last 18 top-flight matches stretching back to their impressive finish to the 2014-15 campaign.
Ahead of the game, Monk praised Leicester for a brilliant opening third of the season, but stressed he does not think they will prove to have the staying power of some of their apparent title rivals.
“I believe Leicester have done fantastically, it is brilliant what they have done,” Monk was quoted as saying by The Mirror.
“History shows you that in terms of whether they are title contenders, the answer is probably not. But they are genuine top-six contenders.”
Christian Fuchs, meanwhile, believes Leicester can go into the match with confidence, particularly given their fine form on the road so far this season that has seen them go undefeated in seven games.
“I know that Swansea can play really well,” Fuchs told Foxes Player. “They started well during the season and now they have suffered a few defeats. Still they’re a good team and also last season they played really well.
“It’s an away game but I think we can be confident. We won the last away game and we’ve won a few away games so we have a lot of confidence to go there and we definitely want to win the game. Of course they’re a good team. They play really good football.
“When teams have lost games, they’re dangerous because they want to come back and when they win all their games people say they’re on a streak. Every team wants to win every game but whether that happens or not is a different story. We know it’s going to be a tough game. We have to perform at 100 per cent again if we want to win.”
Swansea have no fresh injury worries for the game, while the visitors are without Matthew James (knee injury) and Ritchie De Laet (ankle).
Key Opta facts:
– Swansea City have won their last three league games at home against Leicester without conceding a single goal.
– Leicester remain the only side to score in each of their 14 Premier League games this season.
– Bafetimbi Gomis has been caught offside 27 times this season in the Premier League, over twice as often as any other player (Diego Costa and Jonathan Walters on 13).
– Jamie Vardy’s 14 goals in the Premier League this season have won the Foxes 14 points, more than any other player in the competition.
– Swansea City have failed to score in six of their last 10 Premier League games.
– The Swans have used 19 players in the Premier League this season, fewer than any other side.
