Swansea’s chosen style of football is extremely similar to that which the Wigan side has adopted in recent seasons. This is no surprise given that Roberto Martinez enjoyed an extended spell at Swansea prior to jumping ship to Wigan. It has even been said that Martinez effectively laid the foundations for the Swans’ promotion to the top flight. Rather than attempting to fix something which isn’t broken, Brendan Rogers has built upon the back of Martinez success and continued to encourage his team to play an attractive style. Whether this will result in Swansea enduring the difficulties Wigan have over the last few seasons remains to be seen.
The wide players are crucial to Swansea’s attacking 4-3-3 system. More often than not this season, these wide players will be Scott Sinclair and Nathan Dyer, despite the arrival of journeyman Wayne Routledge from Newcastle. Having seen Swansea play on numerous occasions on Sky last season, notably the Play-Off Final, it appeared that Sinclair was given more of a licence to attack from the left than Dyer on the right. Cutting inside onto his favoured right-foot, Sinclair was able to inject himself into the gain at crucial moments to devastating effect. Rogers will undoubtedly be looking to Sinclair to similarly effective in the Premier League.
Whatever the score on Saturday, this should be an entertaining game for the spectators, given that both sides play a brand of football that is both aesthetically pleasing and open. The openness of both sides style of football inevitably leads to defensive deficiencies and this could result, in my opinion, a high scoring game. On a side note, it will be interesting to see the reception which Martinez receives from the Swansea supporters. After being worshipped while he was there, Martinez cast a shadow on his own reputation in the eyes of some die-hard supporters by leaving on a slightly sour note.
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