Hello Read Sunderland, I’m Declan Terry, editor of Read Swansea. Well, it’s been an interesting two weeks hasn’t it? Swansea have enjoyed a delightful start with a draw at Stamford Bridge, and then a comfortable 2-0 win over Newcastle. Whereas Sunderland’s start has been very disappointing, especially your recent 3-1 loss to newly-promoted Norwich City. Now on Saturday, the Swans have a long trip up to the north-east as they face the Black Cats and form will tell you to expect a Swansea win, but trust me, Swansea never do things the way they should.
What to expect from Swansea: Coming back from two outstanding performances, expect the Swans to continue in that vein. The passing football between the midfield three of Jack Cork, Jonjo Shelvey and Gylfi Sigurdsson was exceptional last week, aiding us to nearly 70% of the total possession against Newcastle. We also have Ki Sung-Yueng back from injury, which is a massive boost in midfield. Our defence has vastly improved it seems, with the duo of Ashley Williams and Federico Fernandez ridiculously under-rated. Full-backs Kyle Naughton and Neil Taylor are strong enough to withstand most wing-forces in the league too. Sunderland’s main threat, however, will come from our wings with Andre Ayew, who has excelled since his summer move from Marseille, scoring two goals in his first two Premier League games. Jefferson Montero on the opposite wing will continue to be a constant threat as well as Ayew. Striker Bafetimbi Gomis has also been immense in recent times, scoring two goals this season whilst boasting the impressive stat of seven goals in his last eight league games, so you’ll need to keep tabs on him for sure. The Sunderland defence will have a very tough game on Saturday.
Key Player: Jefferson Montero
After some amazing performances lately, Jefferson Montero has gained plaudits by many in the footballing world after picking up the man of the match award in the last two games. Montero has even been linked with a move to Bayern Munich this week after his outstanding form, and he definitely should be the man to watch out for. Adam Matthews or Billy Jones – expect to have a nightmare of a game against our Ecuadorian speedster. His blistering pace and unpredictable trickery was enough to give Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic arguably one of the worst games of his career two weeks ago, and the same could be said for Newcastle’s Daryl Janmaat who was sent off after being unable to contain Montero last week at the Liberty.
Prediction: Sunderland 0-2 Swansea
I’m very confident that we can overcome a demoralised Sunderland side. But like I said before, expect the unexpected with Swansea, so knowing our luck we’ll get pumped 3-0. But putting our unpredictability aside, I can see Swansea winning 2-0 with a similar performance to last week’s win against your rivals. We’ll dominate in midfield, and then we can punish you in the final third with Montero, Ayew and Gomis. I think Gomis will score again, with another goal coming from Gylfi Sigurdsson in midfield.
