Swansea City A.F.C. vs. Tottenham Hotspur: match preview, projected lineups, predictions, and how to watch

The festive period has been wonderful to Tottenham Hotspur thus far. After their 3-0 domination of Burnley at the Turf Moor, Spurs put forth another comprehensive performance against Southhampton on Boxing Day. With eight goals in two games, the lilywhites are flying high as they head to the Liberty Stadium to take on Swansea City on Tuesday.

Spurs head into the fixture in sixth place in the Premier League, though they have a game in hand against everyone above them. Arsenal is in fifth place, just one point ahead of Tottenham, with fourth placed Liverpool four points clear of Spurs. With United’s draw against Southhampton on Saturday, they dropped to third in the league and are now just seven points ahead of Tottenham. Chelsea are eight points clear in second place, while Manchester City has basically already won the league.

Swansea’s best result of the season thus far was probably their 0-0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley. Other than that, it has been a pretty abysmal campaign thus far. The Swans have won just twice in twenty-one league matches and have only accumulated sixteen points on the year. For both their poor form and record, Paul Clement was dismissed as manager on December 20th. Carlos Carvalhal has earned a draw, a loss, and a win against Watford in his first three games at the helm.

Wilifred Bony is out with a hamstring injury, but the other key to Swansea’s attack remains healthy and that is Jordan Ayew. He is probably the Swans most dangerous attacker and has three goals to his name this term. Leroy Fer is a speedy and tricky option in midfield, while golden boy and LEGEND Tawwwwwmy Carroll has been a consistent cog in the center of the park for Swansea. He has started nineteen games this term and has found a significant role for the Welsh side, which is great to see. Lastly, Tammy Abraham is on-loan from Chelsea and is a talented attacking option off the bench.

All things considered, Swansea aren’t too bad in defense. They sit midtable in goals against and clean sheets stats and have some decent personnel. Former Spur Kyle Naughton continues to be a staple at right-back, its been years since he’s played for Tottenham, but has been a consistent starter for the Swans since arrival three years ago. Alfie Mawson is Swansea’s most talented player and was actually linked to Spurs last summer. He marshals their defense and has been the brightest spot for them in a dark season. Finally, Lukasz Fabianski, like Naughton, has found himself a nice niche in Wales after a transfer from London.

Its a game Spurs should win and the team will definitely be rested. With a match two days later against West Ham, its paramount that Spurs don’t look ahead. Anything less than three points would be a disappointment and three points would lock in another successful Festive period for the side. Spurs sides who have done well during Christmas, tend to finish the season pretty high in the table. The match is for Tottenham Hotspur’s taking on Tuesday.

How to Watch

Date/time: Tuesday, January 2nd, 2017, 7:45 p.m. (UK), 2:45 p.m. ET (USA)

Venue: Liberty Stadium, Swansea UK

Official: Bobby Madley

TV: NBCSN (NBC Sports Live Extra), BBC Radio (UK), TSN5, TSNGO (Canada), Optus Sport (Australia), other listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: NBC Sports Live Extra (USA)

Radio: Audio streamed at tottenhamhotspur.com, also often at BBC Radio London,BBC Radio 5 Live, and TalkSport

Projected Lineup

Harry Kane’s status is in question with an illness and with West Ham on the slate for Thursday, he’ll probably miss the trip to Wales. The great news is that Victor Wanyama will return, while Toby Alderweireld remains sidelined.

This lineup will be hard to pick that is for sure. The first question is whether Son or Llorente will start up top and how heavily will he rotate players in the attacking band. The second is how much will Poch rotate the attacking band, especially when everyone has had a week of rest already.

I think Llorente gets the start up top, with Moussa Sissoko playing in place of Son in the attacking band, and Lamela replacing either Eriksen or Dele, though its rare that they don’t play when healthy. Swansea are pretty bad y’all and I think Poch saves guys for West Ham.

The lineup then will go as follows: Trippier, Sanchez, Vertonghen, and Davies across the back four, with Eric Dier and Harry Winks in the double pivot. Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela, and Moussa Sissoko will play across the front three, with Fernando Llorente up top.

Prediction League

Everybody picked Spurs to win, nobody picked a whacky 5-2 scoreline. Happy New Year everybody!

Dustin Menno: Swansea are extremely bad. 4-0 Spurs.

Matthew Pachniuk: Spurs are rested, but it will be a rotated starting eleven, and potentially Harry Kane-less. This makes it a trap game and I think it’ll be tighter than anybody expects. We nab two in the second half, though the second doesn’t come till late. Thank goodness Swansea stink. 2-0 Spurs.

GN Punk: A flu-ridden Harry Kane could still score a hat trick against Swansea. 5-0 Spurs

Jake Meador: Swansea is very bad. We win 3-0.

Skipjack: TBD

Pardeep Cattry: t probably won't be the simplest of matches, but Spurs will begin the new year with a victory. Tottenham 2-0.

Earl of Shoop:

Ed F: Carlos Carvalhal will look to play it cautiously in his first game with the Swans and this might end up being a bit of a slog- but Spurs will still dominate this game and walk away with a 2-0 win.

Salmon Chase: TBD

Bryan A: TBD

Joe Patrick: We're fresh (albeit sick) and they're on, what, two days rest? There's only one way this is gonna go. 5-1 Spurs.

Alex Greenberg: A still-intoxicated Tom Carroll after New Years does scare me. But if he’s sober at kickoff then Spurs win easily 2-0.

Joel Wertheimer: Spurs are drunk. 3-1 Spurs.

Nathan Giannini: Spurs make tough work of it, but pull out a 3-1 win.