Talking Tactics | Swansea City v Ipswich Town
Swansea City are in action for the second time this week as they welcome Ipswich Town to the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday (3pm KO).
Ahead of the clash WhoScored.com preview the contest, taking a look at what to expect from Ipswich, a key battle and key stat.
What to expect from Ipswich
Ipswich hit the ground running following their promotion from League One, and got their campaign off to a flyer, with eight wins from their opening 10 games (one draw and one defeat).
Their recent form has slowed down slightly with just the one win in the last five, with that coming in their most recent trip to Millwall via a 4-0 win in south-east London.
Currently, the Tractor Boys sit three points adrift of the automatic promotion spots in fourth but boast an 11-point lead over West Bromwich Albion in fifth. No side has lost fewer games than Ipswich Town’s tally of four so far this season.
Ipswich have set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation in every one of their 31 league matches so far this term, with goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky the only player to have been ever-present.
Kieran McKenna’s side have demonstrated a tendency to attack through the middle so far this season, with 28 per cent of Ipswich’s attacks coming through the centre of the park. Only runaway leaders Leicester attack through the middle more (30 per cent).
Ipswich arrive at the Swansea.com Stadium having scored 59 goals, the third highest tally in the league.
A Key Battle
Ipswich have not been afraid to pull the trigger this season, with an average of 15.5 shots per game, they rank third for shots per game in the Championship. Swansea are currently 17th with an average of 11.3.
Conor Chaplin has been one of the visitors’ key attacking threats and currently averages the third-highest shots per game in the league (3.3).
The 27-year-old has 15-goal contributions so far this season with nine goals and six assists. Swansea need no reminder of his capabilities after the Englishman provided an assist and scored in the reverse fixture at Portman Road back in November.
Swansea's creative fulcrum has been Jamie Paterson. The 32-year-old is Swansea’s top goal contributor with nine (five goals and four assists) – the joint-best tally in the squad along with Liam Cullen.
Paterson has made 18 interceptions this season and is winning an average of 1.7 tackles per game, while still remaining the playmaking heartbeat of the Swans team.
The English midfielder currently has a WhoScored.com rating of 6.77 for his efforts in the Championship thus far making him the fourth highest-rated Swansea player.
A Key Stat
Ipswich have been having a sensational season so far, but Swansea fans can take some comfort from the fact that the visitors have won just once in their last five away matches.
In the last six match-ups between these two sides, Swansea have come out on top on three occasions, with one draw and two Ipswich wins.
We could be in for an entertaining afternoon at the Swansea.com Stadium.