Preview | Blackpool v Swansea City
Swansea City go in search of back-to-back away wins as they travel to Bloomfield Road to face Blackpool on Saturday. (3pm)
The Seasiders are looking for their third consecutive win after beating Reading 4-1 and Stoke City 1-0 in their past two games.
Russell Martin’s side will be hoping to take confidence from a good first-half performance against Fulham in which they went toe-to-toe with the runaway league leaders, before Ryan Manning’s red card decisively turned the game.
Team News
Swansea will be without defender Ryan Manning who begins a four match ban following an unsuccessful appeal of his red card sustained for a foul on Harry Wilson on Tuesday evening, but the news is more positive elsewhere with Nathanael Ogbeta and Hannes Wolf set to return following a hamstring injury and Covid-19 respectively.
Russell Martin also confirmed that Flynn Downes, who was withdrawn at half-time in midweek after picking up a knock, is fit and available for this afternoon’s fixture.
Pre-match views
Russell Martin: “Blackpool are a team I know well from my time in League One. Neil [Critchley] is another manager who is showing the benefit of time with a group. He’s done a brilliant job and they’ve had a really solid first season back in the Championship.
“They’ll be really organised out of possession and make it really difficult. They pose a threat as well and in possession they can be really brave on the ball.
“I think it’s an important game for us because of the result the other night. It’s important we bounce back in a positive way. We’re excited about it and it’ll be a great atmosphere especially with that many Swansea fans travelling.”
Neil Critchley: “We want to be us, so whatever formation we play you always see certain principles. The formation is just the steering wheel.
“The principles of how you play have to remain consistent. For example, when we played QPR away recently, even though we changed the shape we were still on the front foot and pressing forward and pressing high, chasing the goalkeeper down and so on.
“In that game QPR didn’t get near our goal in the first-half except from the corner.
“Sometimes you change the formation if you think it’s the right thing to do but we’re off the back of two good wins playing a certain formation and that’s something we need to consider taking into this game.”
Remember the last time?
It’s been 12 years, almost to the day, since Swansea City last travelled to Bloomfield Road to face Blackpool and it proved to be disappointing afternoon.
The Swans went into the game a couple of places above Blackpool in the play-off spots and boasting the best defensive record in the Championship, but Brett Omerod’s opener for the home side on the 13th minute set the tone for a difficult day.
Ian Evatt doubled the lead before the break while Ben Burgess, and Gary Taylor-Fletcher scored either side of a second for Omerod to make it 5-0 going into the final stages of the game.
Cedric van der Gun got a consolation in the 84th minute, but was unable to prevent Swansea from suffering their heaviest defeat of the season.
