Baggies look for back-to-back wins on trip to Swansea

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·3. Januar 2025

Baggies look for back-to-back wins on trip to Swansea

Swansea City v West Bromwich Albion; Swansea.com Stadium, Saturday 4th January 2025, 12.30pm

After starting 2025 with a victory over Preston North End in what we expect to be the only home game under the caretaker control of Chris Brunt, Albion travel to south Wales to take on Swansea City, a side managed by Luke Williams, a man who has been the subject of much speculation in recent days in relation to the vacant position at the Hawthorns, looking for their first back-to-back wins since September.

Despite Williams being installed as the bookies favourite, reports on Friday morning suggested that he was not under consideration by the Albion hierarchy after all. Most of the media are guessing at the moment as there is no clarity as to which direction Andrew Nestor and his team will go, but it has been suggested that previous Championship experience is not a pre-requisite and I wouldn’t be surprised if the new man is someone few of us will have heard of.

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In the meantime, Brunty carries on, although it is Damia Abella who is the most active on the sidelines in this interim coaching setup, with reports suggesting that it is the Spaniard who is having more influence over the actual coaching with Brunt heading up the media duties. If Wedneday’s first half display is anything to go by, there does seem to be a little more attacking freedom on display than we had seen under Corberán in recent weeks. That Josh Maja, in his post-match interview on the club website, described the temporary coaching setup as “a breath of fresh air” suggests that some players, at least, were feeling constricted under the outgoing head coach.

It was a superb 45 minutes that followed on from another excellent performance at Bramall Lane with Osmane Diakité putting in another solid display. I didn’t think that Preston were particularly poor in the first half, but Albion were clinical and simply blew them away. After the break, however, Preston came out strongly and the hosts never really got going. I didn’t think North End looked like scoring, however, until Jed Wallace’s misplaced pass, and it was hairy for a few minutes until Albion managed to regain control and ultimately saw the game out comfortably.

It was a little surprising that Albion started with an unchanged line up on Wednesday given that the bulk of them had played three games in the previous week, but it certainly paid off. Whether Brunt will be able to name another unchanged line-up for the game at Swansea remains to be seen. With McNair’s loan coming to an end and Dobbin recalled by Villa, he had to name two academy players in Bostock and Whitwell on the bench but he will have another name to throw in the mix for Saturday after the club decided to recall Caleb Taylor from his loan spell at Wycombe Wanderers.

From a financial point of view, it makes sense – the alternative would be to bring in another player on loan or a short term deal, which would most likely cost more than whatever Wycombe were contributing to Taylor’s wages – but it may harm the player’s progress if he ends up sitting on the bench for the rest of the season. It could be that Bartley is risking a little more than the medical staff would like at the moment, and perhaps we could see him rested at Swansea with Taylor coming in, and I am sure the youngster will start at Bournemouth next week.

Whether either Holgate or Mowatt will be fit to face the Swans is unclear at the time of writing and, if not, it may well be another unchanged line up. Grant did have an issue a couple of weeks ago so he might be given a rest with, perhaps, John Swift or Grady Diangana coming in to replace him.

The hosts are coming off a disappointing 4-0 defeat at Portsmouth having recorded back-to-back home wins in the previous two festive fixtures. They hadn’t won any of their previous three home games, however, which is indicative of their inconsistent form that sees them firmly in mid-table. The only team that they have beaten in the top six is Watford in November (when they were 5th) with the vast majority of their victories coming against sides in the bottom half of the table.

Liam Cullen, who scored the winner in the equivalent fixture last season, is their top scorer with nine goals in all competitions while Slovenian international, Zan Vipotnik, who joined in the summer from Bordeaux, is second in their scoring chart with four. Brazilian winger, Ronald, is their creator-in-chief with five assists to his name, some way behind Tom Fellows, of course, while the midfield duo of Gonçalo Franco and skipper Matt Grimes are normally the beating heart of the side. Franco suffered an injury in the win over Luton last Sunday but is reportedly available for this match although defender Ben Cabango will miss out having been injured in the defeat at Portsmouth.

Albion don’t have a great record at Swansea with only four wins in that part of Wales in their entire history – three of those have come in the last 15 years, however, so it’s getting better! Chris Brunt’s side didn’t manage to improve their poor run at Derby on Boxing Day, but if they play as they have done in their last two games, another victory should be within reach.

History

For the second successive year, Albion’s first away game of the calendar year is at Swansea City – last season, Carlos Corberán’s team were beaten 1-0 on New Year’s Day which was their third successive defeat on visits to the Swansea.com Stadium. Slaven Bilić’s team earned a goalless draw in south Wales in the final match before lockdown in March 2020, but the Baggies haven’t come away with all three points from Swansea since Darren Moore’s team earned a 2-1 win in November 2018.

Another 2-1 win at Swansea proved crucial in the 2013/14 season. Steve Clarke had been sacked following the Baggies’ previous visit to south Wales when they were beaten 1-0 at Cardiff City in December 2013. After Keith Downing led the team for six games over the festive period, the little-known Pepe Mel became the club’s first Spanish manager. Likeable though the man was, his impact on the team was not what was hoped as Albion earned no victories and just four points from his first seven games at the helm.

The Baggies were in 17th place only outside the bottom three on goal difference when they travelled to what was then called the Liberty Stadium to face Gary Monk’s side with only ten games of the season remaining. It was suggested that Keith Downing and Dean Kiely had started to take more control of team affairs with Mel struggling to communicate his ideas to the team. It couldn’t have started worse at Swansea as the hosts took the lead in the second minute through Roland Lamah and the visitors were fortunate not to be further behind at the break. After half-time however, the Baggies were much more on the front foot and equalised through Stéphane Sessègnon early in the second period before Youssouf Mulumbu scored a late winner to secure the three points and open up a gap with the bottom three.

It was a crucial victory but it didn’t really spark a turnaround in form. The Baggies only earned eight more points from the final nine games but, such was the poor form of the sides below them, it was enough to secure 17th spot with 36 points, three points clear of the drop zone.