Swansea vs. Tottenham: Team News, Predicted Lineups, Live Stream, TV Info
September was a reminder for Swansea City and Tottenham Hotspur that you should not read too much into the Premier League season's opening matches.
Positively so for Tottenham, who reacted to no wins in four with three in a row, ending the month by impressively dispatching first-place Manchester City 4-1. Less happily for Swansea, Garry Monk's side failed to immediately build on their own eye-catching victory over a north-west title contender, Manchester United in their case.
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Sunday's meeting between the two at the Liberty Stadium comes just prior to the latest international break. Monk wants his team to get back on track and record a first win over Spurs since the Swans' top-flight return in the process.
"We've had some very good games against them since we've been in the Premier League," he told his club's official website, bringing up their home performance in a 2-1 defeat versus the north Londoners last season as an example. "But at the same time we have only taken one point from those matches, even if we have deserved better in some games."
Swansea breaking their duck will not be easy against a Tottenham team performing well in the league right now. As well as improving their own performance, they will also hope their opponents' Europa League exertions on Thursday night will have some effect on them in Wales this weekend.
Though disappointed at conceding a late equaliser away at Monaco, Spurs head coach Mauricio Pochettino was happy to reflect on their overall improvements of late.
"We’ve played a lot of tough games in the last few weeks and we need to praise the players because the effort from the squad has been fantastic," he told the club website. "Now we have to be ready for Swansea, another difficult game."
Date: Sunday, October 4
Time: 4 p.m. BST/11 a.m. ET
Venue: Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales
TV Info: No live UK TV coverage/Premier League Extra Time (U.S. only)
Live Stream: No live UK TV coverage/NBC Sports Live Extra (U.S. only)
Form Lines
| Swansea City | Tottenham Hotspur |
| Premier League, September 26: Southampton (A)—Loss: 3-1 | Europa League, October 1: Monaco (A)—Draw: 1-1 |
| Capital One Cup, September 22: Hull City (A)—Loss: 1-0 | Premier League, September 26: Manchester City (H)—Win: 4-1 |
| Premier League, September 19: Everton (H)—Draw: 0-0 | Capital One Cup, September 23: Arsenal (H)—Loss: 1-2 |
| Premier League, September 12: Watford (A)—Loss: 1-0 | Premier League, September 20: Crystal Palace (H)—Win: 1-0 |
| Premier League, August 30: Manchester United (H)—Win: 2-1 | Europa League, September 17: Qarabag FK (H)—Win: 3-1 |
Team News
Speaking in his pre-match press conference (above), Monk confirmed he has a fully fit Swansea squad to choose from this Sunday.
Tottenham had not confirmed their team news at the time of writing. BBC Sport has injured midfielders Nabil Bentaleb, Mousa Dembele and Ryan Mason in contention after the trio missed the majority of September, though Danny Rose's availability after suffering a hand injury in Monaco is unclear.
Heung-Min Son is out after suffering a foot injury against Manchester City. The club has yet to update its initial prognosis:
Predicted Lineups
With no injury concerns, Monk naturally has licence to mix things up after Swansea's poor recent run, if he so chooses.
Right-back Kyle Naughton had a horrid time at Southampton last week, frequently targeted and punished by wide man Dusan Tadic. Of all the Swans' defence, the former Tottenham man's place could be most under pressure with Angel Rangel ready to come in.
Monk handing Naughton a reprieve would take into account just how exposed he was left at St Mary's, an understanding that would inform the other change his manager is almost certain to make.
The decision to forsake width in order to try and get control of midfield with their numerous sharp and perceptive passers of the ball did not pay off. Eder and Jefferson Montero (partly dropped after some underwhelming individual displays) were both introduced at half-time in an attempt to gain a more substantial foothold.
That did not work either, but that should not stop Swansea attempting to get hold of the flanks against Spurs.
Andre Ayew is likely to be shifted further out wide with Montero starting from the left, Bafetimbi Gomis the man in the middle in attack. Ki Sung-Yeung could miss out to accommodate Jack Cork, while Jonjo Shelvey could be selected as the main midfield pair and the former Spur, Gylfi Sigurdsson, operating just in front of them.
For Tottenham, full-backs Ben Davies and Kyle Walker will be back after being rested against Monaco.
Pochettino would ideally like to hand at least one of the young midfield pair of Dele Alli and Eric Dier a rest given how much they have played recently. Their good form and the lack of match fitness of several of their peers in the position means they will likely keep their places.
Son's injury saw Nacer Chadli come in for Thursday's Europa League match, and the Belgium international could be selected again. Do not be surprised, however, if Clinton Njie gets his first Spurs start alongside Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela in attacking midfield to try to retain some of the quickness lost by Son's absence.
The Cameroon international has been eased into life at his new club. Though unable to affect things in Monaco, Njie's assist for Lamela against Manchester City gave us our best look yet at the pace and creativity he offers.
Swansea City Player to Watch: Jonjo Shelvey
Shelvey's fine start to the season was underlined by an England call-up and the mature work he did contributing to the following European Championship qualifier victories.
Now last month's England midfielder of the moment will want to ensure he is not upstaged by October's contender, Tottenham's new call-up Alli.
Alongside Dier, the 19-year-old has been instrumental in Spurs' strong recent showings. Recognised by the national team proper after just two under-21 appearances, he will want to head into his first senior trip on a confident note.
Shelvey will be key to ensuring Swansea do not lose this midfield battle.
Even in a comparatively rough day at Southampton, much of his team's better work went through the 23-year-old. There was only so much he could do, however, with the narrowness of Swansea's shape and the resulting minimal passing options stymieing his attempts to help instigate anything capable of really troubling the home side.
With the Swans set to try and play a more expansive game, of the kind that caused Spurs problems at the Liberty Stadium last year, Shelvey should have more to work with.
More uncertain is if this attempt to control the passing game will be enough to quiet and ultimately stop Spurs. Southampton frequently got in behind them last week, as the north Londoners eventually did in their aforementioned 2-1 win last season.
Tottenham Hotspur Player to Watch: Ben Davies
"You have to take the sentiment out of it," Davies told Tottenham's website ahead of his return to the Liberty Stadium in December 2014. "It’s an important game for us and we’d love to get the win."
Spurs did win 2-1, and the left-back will have been grateful to start against the club he left just five months previously, doing well in the process (notably making a superb sliding tackle to deny Wilfried Bony on one occasion). He showed that the local lad who had come through the Swansea ranks was not out of his depth amid the bright lights of London.
As it turned out, securing the kind of regular first-team football Davies enjoyed in the land of his birth has taken longer than he might have anticipated last year. He was still feeling his way into life with his new team. Indeed, the competition for first-team minutes at left-back with Danny Rose that ultimately saw him in and out of the team in 2014-15 is still very much ongoing.
"Every time Danny plays, I’m fully in support of him and it’s the same the other way around," Davies told Spurs' website of a friendly rivalry that is currently seeing him selected as first choice in the league. "I’m sure both of us agree that we’ve driven each other on in the last couple of seasons."
With Rose playing well in the cups, the Wales international has responded well as he seeks to keep his place.
If the Manchester City win was Lamela's best match in a Tottenham shirt, there is an argument to be made it was Davies', too. Little got past him as he resolutely kept his shape and discipline while facing with one of the division's most enviably talented attacks and still managing a handful of purposeful forays forward, too.
Back home, Davies will want to reaffirm his decision to leave with another display that keeps Rose at bay.
Key Battle: Who Can Get Hold of the Flanks?
Swansea's likely move to provide more width will have brought to Monk's mind the way they caused Tottenham problems on the flanks at the Liberty last season.
Montero gave the recently returned Walker a lot to deal with, although the right-back commendably held his own against the pacy winger.
More troublesome was the way Wayne Routledge was able to run repeatedly at Davies, the left-back feebly protected by Eriksen in front of him. The Dane looked far more comfortable when moved centrally later on, a switch that led to Spurs reasserting themselves and him netting a superb late winner.
The change in momentum in that game was also helped by the introduction of Benjamin Stambouli, the midfielder helping to disrupt the Swans' flow. Pochettino will hope his current midfield can be more dominant from the start—akin to how they were against Manchester City—but he should also be cognizant of the home side bypassing them out wide.
If his full-backs defend as well as they did against City, the Spurs boss will be confident of stifling Swansea here too when they get that far upfield. Davies especially was not given much direct protection from the man in front of him—nominally Eriksen—but, backed by his centre-backs, did enough to keep the visitors out.
Nonetheless, Spurs will not want to allow Swansea to gain too much traction here. Whoever occupies those wide-midfield positions at any given time in their flexible attack, the north Londoners must be prepared for a long and tiring afternoon.
Odds (via Odds Shark)
Swansea City win: 5-4
Tottenham Hotspur win: 2-1
Draw: 9-4
