Preview | Swansea City v Queens Park Rangers
Swansea City are back on home soil as they host Queens Park Rangers at the Swansea.com Stadium this afternoon.
Rangers head to SA1 having won their last two outings under new head coach Michael Beale.
Meanwhile the Swans will be looking to build on a positive performance which saw them play out a draw against Stoke City in midweek.
Forward Joel Piroe has found his shooting boots, scoring two in two away from home, and will be hoping to continue that form back on home turf, while there could be debuts for new additions Luke Cundle, Armstong Oko-Flex and Fin Stevens.
TEAM NEWS
New signing Fin Stevens is in contention to make his Swansea City debut against Queens Park Rangers, while Ben Cabango returns from suspension.
Long-term absentees Joel Latibeaudiere and Liam Walsh aside, Russell Martin has his full squad available.
PRE-MATCH VIEWS
Russell Martin:
“QPR will be positive coming here for sure. They’ve got some good players, especially at the top end of the pitch, having some brilliant individual moments already this season.
“We’re aware of the threat, but we are at home. We need to really match the level of performance and intensity that we showed on Wednesday night.
“If we do that, we’re confident that we can play as well as we did against Stoke against anyone. At home we need to bring that same energy on the pitch.
“The last home result was disappointing. If we win and beat them [QPR], we’ll go two points behind them. Everyone has spoken about how positive their start to the seasons has been. It’ll be a good test for us and be a good game."
Michael Beale:
"We're delighted with the two results (Hull and Watford wins) we've picked up this week and it's important now that we quickly focus on Saturday's game at Swansea.
"If your forwards are hot - which obviously Chris Willock and Ilias Chair have been in the past few games - it makes a hell of a difference.
"That's been the key thing for us so far this season. Against Blackpool and Rotherham, we didn't take our chances. But against Middlesbrough, Watford and Hull we were ruthless in the penalty boxes and that's the difference.
"I'm sure Russell Martin is thinking the same, because they're very good between both penalty boxes."
REMEMBER THE LAST TIME?
Swansea City’s 2021-22 season ended with a defeat as substitute Andre Gray struck a late winner for Queens Park Rangers at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Russell Martin’s side had the clearer of the chances with Cameron Congreve, Joel Piroe, Michael Obafemi and Hannes Wolf all denied by Seny Dieng in the visiting goal, while the Austrian had a first-half effort ruled out for a marginal offside call.
But it was Gray who found the net from close range after a defensive lapse had allowed Andre Dozzell in behind the Swans rearguard.
It was just the visitors second shot on target in the contest but it proved the one that made the difference.
PRIME NUMBERS
1 - Swans have scored in just one of the last five matches against today's visitors - a 2-0 victory in December 2020 - however, two of those five games have ended in 0-0 draws.
4 - Swansea City have won four and drawn four of the last 10 meetings with Rangers.
74 - Visiting striker Chris Willock has scored one goal every 74 minutes for QPR this season, netting a goal in each of his four appearances. Swans striker Joel Piroe now has two goals in two appearances and will be hoping to continue his form as the Swans return to SA1 after a week of travel.