Talking Tactics | Swansea City v Stoke City
Swansea City are in action in midweek as they welcome Stoke to the Swansea.com Stadium on Tuesday night. Here, WhoScored.com preview the Championship clash, taking a look at what to expect from Stoke, the key battle and a key stat.
What to expect from Stoke
Stoke head into their midweek trip to Swansea on a difficult run of form. The Potters have won only two of their last nine league matches, leaving Alex Neil's side in 19th, just six points above the drop zone.
Crucially, though, those wins did come against Reading and Huddersfield, two teams that, at this stage of the season, are in danger of relegation themselves.
Nevertheless, Stoke remain perilously close to the bottom three and a trip to Swansea is hardly ideal for the Potters. Indeed, Neil's side are currently on a four-game away winless run, and have lost their last three on the road. Only Reading (4) are currently on a longer away losing run than Stoke.
Neil has recently sought to move away from a three-man backline and instead used a 4-2-3-1 setup in recent weeks, a change in system that brought about a 3-0 win over Huddersfield last week, and a narrow 1-0 defeat at a Blackpool side that have been tough to beat on home turf in recent weeks.
The hope now is that the weekend's defeat at Bloomfield Road was an exception to the rule as Stoke seek to steer clear of the relegation zone. Yet despite their perilous position on the table, Stoke are still able to find the net relatively regularly. A return of 36 goals is actually more than eighth-placed Blackburn (34), while crucially Stoke are still creating chances.
One of their six statistically calculated WhoScored.com strengths is 'creating scoring chances', and for good reason with Stoke ranking 10th for key passes per game (8.8) in the Championship this season, a respectable return all things considered.
There is a decent spread of players created goalscoring opportunities for the Potters, too.
Additionally, if Stoke do go ahead, then they have the means to shut up shop and see out the win. Another of their strengths is 'protecting the lead', which isn't a shock when you consider a return of 10.8 shots conceded per game is the eighth lowest in the league, while 10.9 interceptions per game is the second highest in England's second tier.
Stoke have routinely proven a tough opponent for any side on their day, but the Swans will be keen to return to winning ways themselves after defeat at Blackburn.
Key battle
Despite featuring sporadically for Russell Martin's side, only Joel Piroe (11) has scored more league goals than Olivier Ntcham (5) for Swansea this season.
Of those five, four have come from outside of the box; only QPR's Ilias Chair (5) has scored more from distance in 2022-23 so far.
Conveniently, one of Stoke's WhoScored.com weaknesses happens to be 'defending against long shots', so if the chance from range is created for Ntcham, then the Cameroon international knows how to pick his spot from outside of the penalty area.
As such, Josh Laurent will be looking to limit the impact of the former Celtic man. With the games coming thick and fast, Martin may opt to rotate his personnel, which would benefit the goalscoring midfielder, so Laurent's work off the ball could be key. The 27-year-old ranks highly for both tackles (1.7) and interceptions per game (1.4) of all Stoke players, which will aid the Potters' quest to prevent the Swans from netting on home turf.
Key stat
Stoke have made a name for themselves for being a robust and difficult side to break down.
Yet that reputation has not been merited this season given they have received the fourth-fewest yellow cards (60) in England's second tier, and are one of five Championship sides yet to receive a red card during the 2022-23 campaign.