Your latest Swansea City headlines for Friday, October 1.
Rosenior's Derby guarantee
Liam Rosenior lavished praise on Derby County's players for the way they have responded to being hit with a 12 point deduction.
The English Football League intervened after the Rams entered administration in September, although Wayne Rooney's side are already back into a positive number of points following their success against Reading in midweek.
And Rosenior says his side's players must maintain their efforts from the triumph over the Royals when they host the Swans this weekend.
"The players' work ethic's been unbelievable. Five of them broke their records for high-intensity running on Wednesday and the challenge is to do it again three days later," he said.
"We can't guarantee success this season but we can guarantee that we'll give it everything.
"Swansea dominate possession - they had 65% against Fulham, who like having the ball themselves.
"We might have periods without the ball and we may have to pick and choose our moments to press."
The assistant boss revealed that Phil Jagielka and Sam Baldock are "touch and go" to be available for the fixture.
READ MORE: Russell Martin's Derby County warning as Swansea City boss delivers three key injury updates
Martin explains defensive setup
Russell Martin has opened up on the role of Kyle Naughton at the heart of Swansea's back three ahead of the trip to Derby.
The experienced defender was twice beaten to the ball by Aleksandar Mitrovic at Fulham as the Serbian netted a first half hat-trick against Swansea on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Ben Cabango endured a difficult first half against the threat of Neeskens Kebano and was guilty of losing possession in the buildup to the home side's second goal.
However, Martin has given his full backing to the duo for their efforts so far this term and opened up on the importance of having Naughton in the middle of defence.
"It's evident with Kyle's game what he brings in possession. Out of possession, it's really unfair to judge him on a couple of moments in the box against one of the most powerful strikers in the league," said Martin.
"You can put Ben there, you can put Ryan [Bennett] there, the result might not be any different.
"For us to control a game and to try and dominate the ball, you need someone who is seriously comfortable to play there, and who his team mates feel really confident with.
"I think he's made a big difference to us, so I'm not going to get overly emotional about Mitrovic scoring a couple of goals. It shouldn't happen and we should do better, if anything, it should be blocked for Kyle.
"Ben is young. He's way too hard on himself. He's not isolated [second goal at Fulham] if we don't give the ball away in a poor area. His first action is not great, and then he doesn't respond very well to it.
"He came on in the Luton game and was brilliant. He plays a brilliant part in the goal against Huddersfield.
"He's a brilliant young defender, we're asking him to play in a very different way and he's shown moments where he's going to be spectacular eventually."
Naughton has averaged more interceptions per game than any other Swans player this season while his pass success rate of 92.1% is bettered only by Flynn Downes of the players to play more than 90 minutes this term.
Grimes' Derby vow
Matt Grimes admits Fulham's ruthless nature in front of goal ultimately earned them victory over the Swans on Wednesday night.
Aleksandar Mitrovic struck three times in the opening half at Craven Cottage to earn Marco Silva's men all three points.
However, Swansea gave themselves a lifeline through Jamie Paterson's well worked goal while they spurned numerous chances during an impressive second half showing in London.
And Swansea captain Grimes is confident that Russell Martin's men can build on the positives from their showing at Fulham when they face Derby this weekend.
“It’s a quick turnaround but we’ll be ready,” he told the club website.
“Two away games in four days are always tough. But we’ll take plenty of positives from the game and we can really crack on on Saturday.
“It was a very tough game, and they’re [Fulham] a very good side. We had the intention of coming here and winning, but, in the end, they had that killer instinct in the final third, which we lacked.
“But we showed what we can be capable of. You just look at Pato's goal, it was fantastic, he’s got that in the locker.
"If he gets in those positions, normally he tucks it away. It was a wonderful goal.”
Prutton predicts trouble for Swans
Pundit David Prutton believes Derby will grind out a narrow victory over Swansea when the sides meet at Pride Park this weekend.
The Rams go into the contest on the back of a hard-fought 1-0 win over Reading while the Swans lost 3-1 at Fulham last time out.
And Prutton has tipped Wayne Rooney's men to make it two wins from two when they host the Swans on Saturday.
"Derby are back into plus points! It is such a credit to Wayne Rooney and his players that they are remaining positive and still picking up results," he wrote in his latest predictions for Sky Sports.
"Swansea were well beaten by Fulham in midweek. They remain a little bit inconsistent in the early stages of Russell Martin's tenure as he tries to rebuild the side, and I think they could come unstuck again here."
Prutton's prediction: Derby County 1-0 Swansea City
For the latest Swansea City news and analysis delivered straight to your inbox, you can sign up for our newsletter here.
