Talking Tactics | Swansea City v Blackburn Rovers
Swansea City will look to home comforts tonight in order to return to winning ways.
The Swans were humbled at West Brom on Sunday, but with games coming thick and fast, they have the ideal opportunity to get their promotion push back on track at Blackburn's expense.
The south Wales side are unbeaten in three of their last four meetings with Blackburn, winning two. Tony Mowbray may have overseen a return to winning ways on the road in their last away match, but having lost six of nine away league matches this season, Steve Cooper will see this match as a good opportunity to get back to winning ways and put three vital points on the board.
A key man securing victory is Bersant Celina. The Kosovan is more than capable of unlocking any opposition defence as and when required and having averaged the joint-most key passes per 90 minutes (two) of all Swansea players, the 23-year-old has the means of helping add to the 17 goals Blackburn have conceded on the road this season.
Rovers have kept just one clean sheet on their travels this term and it's imperative that Swansea make a fast start out of the blocks in order to bolster their chances of ending this five-match winless run. Celina has previous with Blackburn, too, having netted in this game last season.
Swansea secured a routine 3-1 win at Blackburn's expense in October last year as he hammered in the final nail in the coffin in a man-of-the-match performance. Indeed, Celina secured a WhoScored.com rating of 8.39 in the home win as Swansea impressively came from behind to record victory.
Boasting statistically-calculated WhoScored.com strengths of 'dribbling' and 'through balls', Celina is the danger man for Swansea on home turf and if Blackburn are unable to keep him quiet, then they'll be looking at a seventh away defeat of the season.
Expected to start on the left flank against Blackburn, Celina is set to face off against 22-year-old defender Ryan Nyambe.
The Namibian featured in the 1-0 win over Derby at the weekend, that his eighth start of the season, and Blackburn have performed better with Nyambe in the starting XI this season. Their win ratio rises from 41.7 per cent to 50 per cent, while his 1.8 tackles and 1.1 interceptions per game ranks highly of all Blackburn players.
Celina has a tough task on his hands in order to get the better of his opposite number here, but the Kosovo international has the technical ability to put in another star showing help Swansea to a fifth win in SA1 this term.
