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Friday, 2 November 2012

Western Mail

Western Mail

Friday, 2 November 2012

S O T 51 P R

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SWANS IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE Laudrup is putting cup dream to one side for now
TIM LEWIS
tim.lewis@walesonline.co.uk

Ashley has eyes on Wembley after class away display

TIM LEWIS
tim.lewis@walesonline.co.uk

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MICHAEL LAUDRUP says Swansea City supporters can dream of a trip to Wembley but he wont let cup success affect their Premier League campaign. Swansea progressed to the quarter-finals of the league cup for the first time in their history after beating Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday night, but Laudrup is refusing to get carried away with the victory. A home tie with Middlesbrough in the next round has given Swansea the chance to mount a serious challenge for the Capital One Cup this season. But with a home clash with European champions Chelsea at the Liberty Stadium tomorrow, Swans boss Laudrup has quickly turned his attention back to their league form. Laudrup said: I understand completely that people are excited because it was a great night for this club to beat Liverpool at Anfield in a cup competition. It was also the first time beating one of the big clubs on their own pitch so thats a great achievement as well. But now we have to put that to the back of our minds until December and dont start talking about Wembley. The fans can have their dreams that it would be nice to go there, I understand that, but before that we have seven league games, including some very important ones. For the supporters I understand this is history and its very special. I try to understand that as well. Thats why the cup is fantastic and thats why I said before the Barnsley game the cup is important because it gives you the chance to feel the success.

The fans can dream about Wembley and the final, we cant. We have to focus on the league now. Laudrup played a near full-strength side for Wednesday nights game with only four changes from the side who lost 1-0 at Manchester City, with two of the changes being enforced because of an injury to goalkeeper Michel Vorm and the suspension of Angel Rangel. Last season under Brendan Rodgers a much-changed Swansea side were dumped out of the league cup at Shrewsbury as they focused on maintaining their place in the Premier League. The league remains the top priority for Swansea this season, but Laudrup has always stated his desire to do well in the cup competitions. Chairman Huw Jenkins praised Laudrup and his side following their win over Liverpool and former manager Brendan Rodgers, who the Dane replaced this summer. Jenkins said: We are taking the cup seriously. Its about keeping momentum. The boys have started playing well and we have to make sure we keep getting results and building confidence which will help everybody. Its great to be in the quarter-finals for the first time, but its great for our manager as well. Taking over and coming in as he did was a difficult task. Wed love to have a trip to Wembley. But we cant afford to forget the most important thing which is making sure we keep winning in the Premier League. Swansea avoided top-flight rivals Arsenal, Chelsea, Norwich and Aston Villa in the quarter-final draw as they secured

Chico Flores celebrates scoring against their first home tie since the second round win over Barnsley. With Norwich and Villa meeting in the next round and Chelsea and Arsenal tasked with tricky away fixtures at Leeds United and Bradford, theres no question the draw has fallen in Swanseas favour. But Laudrup insists Middlesbrough wont be an easy tie, having booked their place in the quarter-final with an impressive 1-0 win at north-east rivals Sunderland on Tuesday night and Tony Mowbrays side have been in excellent form in recent weeks.

Liverpool with Ashley Williams and Ki Sung-Yueng Boro are unbeaten in six games in all competitions and currently sit third in the Championship behind Cardiff and Leicester. Laudrup said: It (the league cup) is the shortest way to a final because you play only five games and you can be in the final. The winner of the league cup will be going into the Europa League so theres another bonus at the end of the competition and thats why its very important for a club like us. Im pleased we are at home. The last two games have been long trips away so the crowd deserve a home quarter-final. But there are lots of games before then that are very important. We have seven games where we need to make sure we pick up some points because then it is only three until the halfway stage and then we can look at where we are. We know that we need to have a certain number of points to make

PICTURE: Huw Evans Agency

sure we dont suffer so much in the second half of the season. Laudrup was delighted with Swanseas performance in the 3-1 win over Liverpool as they dominated Rodgers lacklustre side. Swansea took the lead through Chico Flores in the first half and goals from Nathan Dyer and Jonathan de Guzman sealed the win in the second period. Laudrup added: The result is always the most important thing, but the performance was excellent. To go face-to-face without fear against Liverpool at Anfield is great for this club.

ASHLEY WILLIAMS says Swansea City are desperate to go all the way to Wembley after seeing off Liverpool in the Capital One Cup. Swansea have been rewarded with a home tie against Championship outfit Middlesbrough for beating Brendan Rodgers Liverpool side 3-1 at Anfield on Wednesday night. Goals from Chico Flores and Jonathan de Guzman, their firsts for Swansea, either side of a Nathan Dyer strike gave Swansea a deserved victory over their former boss. A goal from second-half substitute Luis Suarez had threatened to drag Liverpool back into the game, but de Guzmans injury-time goal sealed Swanseas passage into the quarter-finals for the first time in the clubs history. Swans boss Michael Laudrup played a near full-strength side for the fourth-round clash while Rodgers made nine changes to his starting XI and Williams insists his side are eager to do well in the cups this season. Williams said: Im pleased that we are taking the cup very seriously and giving ourselves a chance to get really far in it. Who knows if we can win it? Ive never got this far in the cup myself and Im keen to see how far we can get now. We are going to give it a real good go. In the quarter-finals anything can happen, you see sides go through and make it to the final when people might not expect them to, so why not us? Im pleased that we are at home in the quarter-finals. Middlesbrough are doing really well this season so we know its going to be a tough game, but we are at home so we will be looking to take the game to them. Williams hailed the Swans

Ashley Williams display in the win over Liverpool as their best team performance of the season after seeing Rodgers side off in style. Swansea had performed well at Manchester City the weekend before, eventually going down to a Carlos Tevez goal and Williams admits it is nice to get a big scalp away to one of the Premier Leagues big clubs. All Swanseas most memorable victories of last season over Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool came at the Liberty Stadium. Weve won at home before and performed well away at the big clubs but weve never quite got that win. Now weve got over that hurdle, added Williams. It wasnt in the league, which would have been nice, but it was still a very important game and we want to make inroads in the cup. The Liverpool fans showed us a lot of respect when we came off at the end and you cant ask for much more than appreciation from an away crowd. Its up there with the best under the new manager, obviously QPR is right up there and West Ham, but to come away from home to a game with a lot of things going on around it and perform like that is great. It was the best team performance of the season.

4/1

Swansea to beat Chelsea

We should fear
GARRY MONK reckons Swansea City shouldnt fear reigning European champions and Premier League leaders Chelsea claiming they can compete with any side in Europe. Club captain Monk said Wednesdays nights win over Liverpool and their narrow defeat at Premier League champions Manchester City last weekend has given them the belief that they should no longer fear any side. They host star-studded Chelsea at the Liberty Stadium tomorrow who have averaged more than two goals a game this season under Roberto Di Matteo. Having added the likes of Eden Hazard and Oscar to their frontline since winning the Champions League last May, Chelsea are now being taken serious as title con-

nobody after our big Anfield success, insists Monk

tenders but Monk says the Swans are full of confidence. Monk said: We have belief, I think the game against Man City showed we can go to the champions, put in that sort of performance and take it to them. In the end we should have got something from that game. We are in a big game week, but ever since Ive been here weve had big games relative to that league and weve always risen to the occasion. On our day were good enough to compete with anyone, anyone in Europe, anyone at all, we just have to make sure were on it. We showed that in the Man City game, we showed it again against Liverpool and hopefully well show it against Chelsea. Our mindset has changed, but you cant just say that, you need evidence. The result against Liverpool and performance against Manchester City, albeit we lost, has given us belief that we can achieve things and not just talk about it. Swanseas win at Anfield was the first time they have taken a big scalp away from home since winning promotion back to the top flight in 2011. Under Brendan Rodgers the Swans humbled Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool at the Liberty, but never really went close to beating one of the traditional big clubs away from home. The league cup win over Liverpool has been hailed as a landmark moment for Swansea under new boss Michael Laudrup. We went to Anfield last year, looked at all the names on their team sheet, for a lot of the boys it was their first season in the Premier League, and we thought we hope we can get something, added Monk. We came here this time knowing that if we were on it we could get a result. Were not just players that have come up a league now, were Premier League players, were top players and we deserve to be where we are. Of course Chelsea are a step up, theyre the reigning European champions with a lot of attacking talent. On paper they are a fantastic side, theres everything that

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Swanseas cup run has built confidence, says Garry Monk

goes along with being European champions so its going to be great for our fans. But were not here to make up numbers, were here to win games and thats the attitude well take into that match. Monk was a second-half replacement for Chico Flores against Liverpool and could be in line to start his first Premier League start of the season if the Spanish defender fails to recover in time.