It’s a good ol’ fashioned relegation battle as Swansea City hosts Middlesbrough at the Liberty Stadium live on NBCSN at 8:30 a.m. ET or live online at NBCSports.com.
After the initial pair of wins with new manager Paul Clement at the helm, Swansea has continued to struggle and is right back into the thick of the fight, level on points with Hull City but just out of the relegation zone on goal differential. The Swans have lost three of their last four, including a brutal one two weeks against Hull. They will be keen to avoid losing two in a row against relegation opposition, lest they see themselves drop into the zone. However, all their recent losses have come on the road, while at home they’ve won three straight.
[ WATCH LIVE: Swansea City vs. Middlesbrough live online at NBCSports.com ]
Swans are mostly fit with Kyle Naughton returning from a two-match absence with a hamstring problem and Martin Olsson back after a small ankle injury. However, Fernando Llorente picked up a last-minute calf injury, ruling him out of the match, with Jordan Ayew starting up front in his place. Leon Britton also misses out with a hamstring problem and Wayne Routledge is absent for “personal reasons.”
For Middlesbrough, they still have a few small problems to content with. There’s just one change from last week’s loss to Manchester United, but it will see them change formations as Grant Leadbitter comes to the bench in favor of Adama Traore. That changes things from the 4-3-3 they featured in last week’s loss to Manchester United to more of a 4-2-3-1 with just Alvaro Negredo by himself up top.
Boro is still without George Friend and Calum Chambers who are both returning to fitness, while Daniel Ayala returns from his hamstring injury to make the bench. They sit five points from safety, and a win today would go miles towards moving them out of the relegation zone, muddying the waters further. Should they lose, the teams at the bottom will have lost ground on their goal.
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Swansea City: Fabianski; Naughton, Fernandez, Mawton, Olsson; Fer, Cork, Carroll; Narsingh, Ayew, Sigurdsson.
Bench: Nordfeldt, Kingsley, van der Hoorn, Montero, Ki, Borja, McBurne.
Middlesbrough: Valdes; Barragan, Bernardo, Gibson, Fabio; Clayton, de Roon; Traore, Ramirez, Downing; Negredo.
Bench: Guzan, Ayala, Forshaw, Guedioura, Leadbitter, Stuani, Gestede.