Richards: It’s a must-win game

Gary Richards feels Swansea City Under-23s must continue their winning run to have a chance of progressing in the Premier League International Cup at Landore tonight (7pm).

The young Swans face Spanish side Athletic Bilbao B in the Group D of the competition following back-to-back wins over Liverpool and Colchester in the league and Premier League Cup.

Despite a narrow 2-1 defeat against Manchester United last month, if Swansea add to their 6-0 win over Celtic, they will have a strong chance of progressing as one of two best-placed runner-up teams on goal difference.

Meanwhile Athletic have no chance of progressing to the knockout stage after two defeats in the tournament. 

“We know it is a must-win game if we want to qualify,” under-23s coach Richards said.

“We enjoy playing in this competition against teams from other countries and have learnt a lot from playing in the tournament over the past two seasons.

“We reached the semi-finals last year and it would be a huge achievement to repeat that success.

“The biggest thing for us is to end 2017 on a high. Our win against Liverpool last week will only boost our confidence and we want to cap it off with a good performance and hopefully the result we want tonight.

“We don’t want to be complacent, we have to focus on getting a win and need to be at our best to get the result we need.”

Kick-off is at 7pm with FREE entry to watch the game at Landore. Food and merchandise will also be available to purchase. There is no parking at the facility.

Tonight’s game will also be streamed LIVE via swanseacity.com.