Bob Bradley will have to cope without two players as he looks to change his team’s fortunes.
Swansea City duo Ki-Sung Yueng and Federico Fernandez will both be absent for the Welsh side’s six-pointer against Sunderland at the weekend, manager Bob Bradley has told the club’s official website.
Both are out with broken toes, and though the South Korean midfielder is back in training he will not be able to feature against David Moyes’ side.
Swansea City’s Ki Sung Yueng applauds the fans after the match
Ki has not played since the draw with Everton in mid-November, with Fernandez’s last outing coming a week later in the 5-4 victory against Crystal Palace.
The Swans are looking to bounce back from a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Tottenham last time out, with Bradley in defiant mood despite struggling to arrest his side’s slide since replacing Francesco Guidolin at the start of October.
Jack Cork is challenged during last weekend’s defeat at Tottenham
“I know when you lose a game by the scoreline that we lost by last weekend, it looks bad for the supporters and for confidence and there’s a lot there to jump on,” the American said.
“But I also know we are not the first team in the history of the Premier League to be beaten by a scoreline that’s got away from them. Now we have to turn it around. We have to step on the field to play against a team who are around us in the table and look to win,” he added.
Going on to say the upcoming clash against the Black Cats represents “the biggest since I came in”, it is clear that Bradley understands the importance of Saturday’s match.
Swansea City’s Fernando Llorente
The two clubs are separated by two points at the bottom of the table, with Swansea currently propping up the rest having won just once since the opening day of the season.
Sunderland travel to South Wales in good form having won three times in their last four Premier League matches, and in Jermain Defoe they have a striker in form.
Swansea have home advantage, however, and will be hoping to match the result – if not quite the drama – of their last home outing against Palace a fortnight ago.
Who will come out on top in the basement battle at the Liberty? Leave your predictions below.
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