Swansea City vs Aston Villa Prediction - Both teams fighting for survival

Being known for attractive, attacking football has its own pitfalls. Not only are you expected to maintain the style throughout your campaign, you are judged more harshly if you become more pragmatic in the face of difficult situations. Swansea City find themselves in a similar position right now. Having played eye-catching football under the guidance of Brendan Rodgers and still maintaining their Premier League status comfortably, they now find themselves in the unenviable position of a relegation battle. While they are not in any immediate danger, things can change pretty quickly with a couple of bad results for the team in the remaining fixtures.

Aston Villa may look safe in 15^th place, but they are nowhere close to being immune to the drop. They do have an advantage in the fact that they have a 5 point lead over 18^th placed Cardiff City, with a game in hand, but if they are not careful and things don’t go their way, they could end up in a relegation scrap that they could very much do without. If they cannot get positive results in their remaining 4 games, Villa could drop out of the EPL altogether. With rumours flying around that Randy Lerner is set to sell the club, playing in the Championship won’t help their cause at all.

For both teams, this game represents a very important tie for their future in the Premier League. Whichever team takes the 3 points from this match could, for all intents and purposes, guarantee their survival in the EPL for next season. In fact, even a draw would not be seen as such a bad result, as a point each could go a long way towards making their position in the league safe. This would certainly be going through the minds of both teams, and could well end up being a game of attrition rather than any attacking intent.

Injuries

Swansea City have their full complement of players available for this game, barring Michu who is still out with an ankle injury and no return date set for him yet.

Aston Villa, on the other hand, have as many as 6 players on the injury list. Only Okore is scheduled to return to the team this weekend. The rest, which include Gardner, Helenius, Benteke, Kozak and N’Zogbia are all out for the long term. Benteke, in particular, has been missed by Villa, and he certainly would have made a big difference to Villa’s fortunes this season.

Head to Head

Aston Villa and Swansea City have played each other only 19 times, but the Villans have been the dominant side between the two, notching up as many as 12 victories. Swansea City would want to add to their tally of 4 wins in this weekend’s game.

Form

Swansea City – WLLWD

Aston Villa – DLLLL

Prediction – Swansea City 1-1 Aston Villa

Both sides would be well aware of how important it is to get at least a point in this fixture, and this could well make for a nervy affair as neither team would want to concede. Swansea, being a naturally attacking side, could take the initiative but it will certainly be a cagey match between the two.