THE OPPOSITION
The Swans appear to have put the disappointment of last season's Play-Off failure behind them following an impressive start to this campaign. A 3-1 defeat in the final competitive game played at Griffin Park ended Steve Copper's first season in charge at the semi-final stage but The Swans look well set to enjoy another fruitful campaign this time round.
City have won five, drawn three, and lost just one of their opening nine league fixtures. They began with an EFL Cup exit at the hands of Newport County before taking ten points from their opening four in the league.
A mini dip in form brought just two points from their games against Huddersfield Town, Coventry City, and Bristol City but back-to-back 2-0 wins at home to Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers see them come to TW8 second in the table, four points behind early pace-setters Reading.
They are unbeaten so far on the road, conceding just two goals in their four away games, while last season's top scorer Andre Ayew (pictured above) has four goals to his name so far.
It was a busy summer of transfer business in South Wales with ten players coming in and 14 going out. Of the notable incomings, Freddie Woodman and Marc Guehi both returned on loan while Morgan Gibbs-White was brought in on a temporary basis from Wolverhampton Wanderers. Korey Smith (Bristol City), Ryan Bennett (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Ryan Manning (Queens Park Rangers) and Jamal Lowe (Wigan Athletic) all joined permanently.
Rhian Brewster and Conor Gallagher left at the end of their loans while promising centre-back Joe Rodon joined Tottenham Hotspur. Jefferson Montero, Mike Van Der Hoorn, Erwin Mulder, Bersant Celina, and Kristoffer Pedersen also said goodbye to The Liberty Stadium.
TEAM NEWS
There's no change to our current injury list with Christian Norgaard, Mads Roerslev, Shandon Baptiste, and Pontus Jansson all set to miss out tonight.
Swansea will be without midfielders George Byers and Morgan Gibbs-White but are at full strength otherwise.
THE MANAGER
Steve Cooper spent four years playing in Wales before retiring at 23 to become Wrexham's Head of Youth. A UEFA Pro Licence holder at 26, Cooper moved to Liverpool in 2008 and became Academy Manager in 2011. During his time at Melwood he worked with the likes of Raheem Sterling and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
He moved to the FA in 2013 as a youth coach educator and coached the England Under-16s in 2014, before making the step up to under-17 level the following year. He led the Young Lions to the final of the 2017 European Championship, where they lost to Spain on penalties, but they gained revenge later in the year by coming from 2-0 down to beat the same opponents 5-2 in the World Cup final. With Graeme Potter heading to Brighton in the summer of 2019, Cooper was handed his first club managerial role after six years with the FA, guiding The Swans to sixth during his first campaign.
PRE-MATCH VIEWS
⚖ Stephen Martin will be the man in charge tonight
🆚 Ian Mitchelmore from Wales Online previews The Swans
LAST TIME OUT
HOW TO FOLLOW
We are not on TV tonight, including the red button, which means the only way to watch us play is through iFollow. For only £10 (£7 for international fans) you can keep up with all the action in a live stream, with kick-off at 7pm.
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Frozen Season Ticket and Premium Seat Holders have had their iFollow account upgraded to VIP for this fixture. This means they are able to watch this without the use of a code, by simply logging in to watch the game. To check you have been upgraded to VIP, login and head to ‘My iFollow Account’ select ‘Purchased Packages’, if you have been upgraded you will see a Brentford Season Ticket with an active status.
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