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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Ian Mitchelmore

The stark illustration of Swansea City's blistering Championship start - and why others might be worried

Swansea City go into Saturday's clash with Stoke City on top of the Championship table.

And victory over Nathan Jones' side will once again see Steve Cooper's men spend an international break at the summit of the standings.

Few predicted Swansea's stunning start to the campaign, with the Swans losing just once in their opening 10 league outings.

But they're form under Cooper appears even more impressive when you look closer at the opposition they've faced.

The 10 sides Swansea have faced have claimed a combined total of 153 points, and average of 15.3, which is the highest in the division.

And as far as league position is concerned, Swansea's opponents have had an average position of 10.2, the second highest behind Nottingham Forest (9.7).

At the opposite end of the table, Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff City have had the easiest starts, as far as the league table is concerned.

Ahead of the clash with the Potters, Swansea have played six of the other 11 sides in the top half of the Championship, playing just four of the 12 teams in the lower half of the standings.

Almost exactly a year ago, Ipswich Town headed to South Wales looking for their first win of the 2018/19 campaign having failed to tasted victory in any of their opening 11 matches.

And given that Stoke have failed to win any of their opening 10 games going into this weekend's encounter, Wales star Connor Roberts is fully aware that the Swans can't take the Potters lightly following last year's chastening experience against the Tractor Boys.

“If you look at their team, they’ve got some really good players,” said the defender.

“I think they’ve just been a little bit unlucky with results and individual errors, and they will be coming down to us determined to put things right.

“You cannot underestimate any side in the Championship, any side can beat any other on any given day.

“So we have to focus on our own game. Being back at the Liberty and having the fans behind us, hopefully we can get those three points and stay up there.

“Our goal is to be top of the table going into the international break. The only way we’re going to do that is by performing well and getting a good result on Saturday.”

Kick-off at the Liberty Stadium is at 3pm on Saturday.

 
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