Swansea V Everton at Liberty Stadium : Match Preview

22 September 2012 08:34
Swansea V Everton - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.

Dyer plays down Baines clash Swansea winger Nathan Dyer does not see the clash with Everton's Leighton Baines as a chance to prove his internationals credentials to England boss Roy Hodgson.

Dyer, 24, impressed during Swansea's maiden Premier League campaign last term, and has started the new season in sensational form. The former Southampton man has relished the freedom manager Michael Laudrup has allowed his wide men this season, scoring twice and creating a host of chances. Dyer has been mentioned as a potential England call-up for some time, and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand recently used his Twitter account to champion the forward's cause.

Everton left-back Baines, meanwhile, has been the model of consistency for David Moyes' side in recent seasons, and started England's World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine in the absence of the injured Ashley Cole. Dyer will get the chance to go up against the former Wigan defender when Everton visit the Liberty Stadium, but his only focus is on trying to secure three more points for the Swans rather than making a point to Three Lions boss Hodgson.

He said: "I think it will give me an extra nudge to face a player of his quality, but when I go out I just enjoy playing, I don't think I need to do this or that for something else to happen, what comes my way, comes my way. "It has been nice to get mentioned and to have other players and fans recognise I have been playing well, but it's one of those things, you have to keep going, keep grinding out performances, scoring goals and making assists and hopefully you can get a chance. "But the players in the England squad are great players themselves, so I am not going to say that I should be involved, that's up to selectors and it's up to me to keep pushing."

Laudrup expects several players nursing injuries to be fit. Ashley Williams (ankle), Leon Britton (illness), Jonathan de Guzman and Danny Graham (both ankle) are carrying knocks but should be available. Kemy Agustien (calf) joins a lengthy list of absentees including Neil Taylor (broken ankle), Chico Flores (suspension), Kyle Bartley (thigh) and Garry Monk (back), while Laudrup could hand first Premier League starts to Pablo Hernandez and Ki Sung-yueng.

Moyes, meanwhile, hopes Everton can take their chance to push up into the Barclays Premier League's top four. The Toffees would have moved joint level with Manchester United in second had they beaten Newcastle on Monday night but they were denied by a last-minute Demba Ba equaliser.

Moyes said: "We've quite often done that and not got in the position we really want to be, whether that's cup finals or semi-finals or the chance to push ourselves into a really strong league position, so it's the next step we have to try to take." It was a night where Everton showed solidarity with their city rivals Liverpool as they remembered the victims of the Hillsborough disaster and their families' long fight for justice. But all the talking points at the end of the match were about the performances of the officials after Marouane Fellaini was denied a goal by an errant offside flag before Victor Anichebe's header clearly crossed the line but was also not given. Goal-line technology has already been approved by FIFA and Moyes accepts it is only a matter of time before it is introduced in the Premier League, but his main disappointment was that his team could not hold onto their lead.

He said: "The goal-line one you can say needs technology but the offside one is not going to change, so that disappointed me as much as the goal-line one. "Technology will come in on the goal-line, I've got no doubt about that, and I think it's moving forward. "It's frustrating because it's their (the officials') job to get it right and they didn't get it right but looking back at the DVD of how we played throughout the night was very good. We've been pleased with our form, with the performances of the players. "We could have won it and there's no-one else to blame but ourselves because we were 2-1 up with a few minutes to go and we didn't see it out. We have to play the games for 90 minutes and win them ourselves."

Everton will definitely be without striker Nikica Jelavic for the trip. The Croatian bruised his knee and shin in a collision with a post early on against Newcastle and, although he tried to carry on, he was substituted later in the first half. Midfielder Darron Gibson is also out as he continues his recovery from a thigh strain while full-back Tony Hibbert is a doubt after picking up a knock.

Source: PA