Neil Warnock unlikely to do Swansea any favours in their automatic promotion hunt

Swansea City host Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough on Saturday looking for a win to help realise their ambition of returning to the Premier League.

Andre Ayew’s controversial late penalty at Stoke on Wednesday left Swansea just a point outside of the Championship’s automatic promotion places heading into Saturday’s home game against Middlesbrough.

The Swans put a run of two defeats in their last three behind them with a 2-1 win in the Potteries, and second-placed Brentford’s loss at league leaders Norwich means Steve Cooper’s side could move in to the top two with a win at the Liberty Stadium should both the Bees and Watford fail to win their respective games.

The crushing 4-1 defeat at Huddersfield a fortnight ago brought a nine-game unbeaten league run to an end, and last weekend’s 3-1 home loss to Bristol City saw them lose further momentum in the promotion chase.

Cooper freshened up his starting line-up for the trip to Stoke with Conor Hourihane and Jake Bidwell both starting on the bench to ensure a squad hampered by injuries can survive a packed fixture list.

American International forward Jordan Morris has had his loan cancelled after sustaining a serious knee injury in the game at the John Smith’s Stadium, academy graduate Liam Cullen is expected to miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury, and veteran Wayne Routeledge is yet to return from a knock he picked up in January.

This has resulted in forwards Ayew and Jamal Lowe starting five games in the space of 14 days, and Swansea’s attacking output suffering as a result.

However, the late win in midweek has reaffirmed belief that Swansea are a genuine contender for automatic promotion, and a strong run of form heading into the March international break could well see them establish themselves as favourites to go up with league leaders Norwich.

“We always want to use a good result and a good performance to create momentum going into the next one.

“We’ve got a quick turnaround now but we will go again on Saturday in another tough game against a strong squad.”

– Swansea City Head Coach Steve Cooper

As much as there is never an easy game in the Championship, this weekend’s visitors to the Liberty Stadium will almost certainly make Steve Cooper’s side work for the three points.

Despite winning just three of their last ten in the Championship, Boro are still in touching distance of the play-off places and they have already shown this season that they can frustrate the promotion chasers.

Warnock’s side have already picked up goalless draws at both Norwich and Brentford already this season, and they beat Swansea 2-1 at the Riverside in December.

Middlesbrough’s win that day showcased them at their best under Warnock. They were defensively compact, limiting the Swans to just three shots on target, but also deadly on the counter-attack with Duncan Watmore scoring a brace from quick breakaways.

A slackening of their defensive resilience in recent weeks, coupled with a season-long lack of goals, has prevented Boro making a play-off spot their own, although they have already shown they can compete with anyone in the Championship on their day.

They came from behind to beat Coventry in the week and ensure they did not fall behind Barnsley, Bournemouth and Cardiff in the hunt for a place in the top six.

Unlike Saturday’s opponents, Boro have been able to welcome back a number of attacking reinforcements from injury in recent games. Both Marcus Tavernier and Yannick Bolasie featured against Coventry after spells on the sideline, although Ashley Fletcher remains unavailable.

Their 72-year-old manager this week signed a one-year contract extension to ensure the end of this current campaign won’t be the last we see of one of the Championship’s greatest ever managers.

“I don’t want to finish my career without having one last wave to the Bristol City fans, and one or two of the others away from home, thanking them for all these years they’ve been having a go at me.

“It would be sad if I had to do that.

“It’s been a long, hard slog in the pandemic, for managers and players, so we’ve got to have some fun. We’ve got to try to entertain everybody, and that’s why I think it’s important that fans come back. You get your vibes off the fans.”

– Neil Warnock on why he signed a contract extension with Middlesbrough

Whilst it is Swansea who will be favourites to come out on top on Saturday to keep the pressure on the top two, it would be no surprise to see Warnock find a way to frustrate them.

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