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Match Previews

Swansea City (H)

26 January 2018

Match Previews

Swansea City (H)

26 January 2018

Notts County host Swansea City in the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup looking to cause an upset against the Premier League side.

With the eyes of the world upon them, the Magpies will hope the Welsh side's battle for survival in the top flight will take priority, allowing County to take advantage and send the Swans crashing out.

Carlos Carvalhal's side overcame Championship leaders Wolves in a replay to earn their place at Meadow Lane and come into the game with confidence having won 1-0 at home to Liverpool on Monday night thanks to Alfie Mawson's goal.

And the game provides Notts with an opportunity to complete a hat-trick of scalps, having already beaten a League One and a Championship team in their cup run.

Notts manager Kevin Nolan says...

 
“I don’t fear anybody when we are at Meadow Lane.

“It’s a tricky tie for them, but they are Premier League and will be professional. They will come and respect us, and do what is required of them.

“They have just beaten Liverpool too, but I am hoping we can upset the applecart and ruin what is going on there a little bit.

“I hope we can upset a few and have a little bit of Lady Luck on our side too because you need all  that if you're going to beat a Premier League side in a cup competition.”

Swansea boss Carlos Carvalhal says...

“Against Notts County it will be different [than against Liverpool]. Of course we are the bigger side, but we will respect Notts County. We will pick a team that can win the game.

“Especially in England, opponents will always ask you questions, so we must give the correct answers. Even the smaller teams are very organised and difficult to play against.

“And as we have seen in the cup competitions, such as the Carabao Cup, there can be surprises. We have to be ready and focused. If we do that, we will have a big advantage.

“We will prepare the team as well as we can to progress in this competition.”

Team news

Ross Fitzsimons and Matty Virtue are suspended for Notts after their red cards in Tuesday's loss against Crawley, while Matt Tootle is set to miss out through illness.

Swansea have no injury concerns ahead of the game, with the likes of Tammy Abraham, Angel Rangel and Bayern Munich loanee Renato Sanches all returning to full fitness.

Dangerman

Swans loanee Tammy Abraham is a natural goalscorer who has risen through Chelsea’s youth ranks with a superb scoring record – 74 in 98 appearances between 2014 and 2016.

That form saw the 20-year-old sent on loan to Bristol City, where he enjoyed an outstanding debut season in senior football which earned him a new five-year contract at Stamford Bridge prior to joining the Swans on another season-long loan.

The striker scored 26 goals in 48 games for the Robins, winning the club’s Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards, and then helped England’s under-21 side to the semi-finals of the European Championships.

Five goals in the first two months of the season led to the youngster earning his first caps for England in the November friendlies against Germany and Brazil, though he has not found the back of the net since a match-winning brace against Huddersfield Town on 14 October.

We've met before

The head-to-head standings favour the away side, who have won 30 of the 70 previous meetings between the sides.

The last meeting went in Notts' favour, however, as Mark Stallard scored the only goal of the game at Meadow Lane in March 2005.

There have been two previous FA Cup ties between the teams, with both sides winning a game each.

Notts came out 3-1 winners in January 1931 before the Swans took revenge three years later with a 1-0 victory.

What are the odds?

William Hill have priced Notts up at 16/5 outsiders to beat the Swans, while the visitors are odds-on favourites at 19/20, a shade under evens. The draw, which would see the tie go to a replay at the Liberty Stadium, is 9/4.

Notts are 9/1 to repeat their 1-0 win at Brentford from round three and 50/1 to win 3-2, as they did against Oxford City in the second round.

A goal-laden 4-2 win, which would match the result against Bristol Rovers in the opening round, is available at 125/1.

You can get odds of 33/1 for Notts to win 1-0 with Jon Stead scoring the only goal, as was the case in west London earlier this month.

Meanwhile, captain Richard Duffy is 40/1 to open the scoring against his former club and Shola Ameobi is available at 9/1 in the same market.

Fancy the Magpies to win and keep a clean sheet? It's 5/1 for Nolan's men to win to nil and 7/1 for both teams to score with the Magpies progressing to the next round.

You can bet on the game here.


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