Swansea V Tottenham At The Liberty Stadium : LIVE

30 March 2013 08:18
Swansea V Tottenham - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


Dyer refreshed after break

Nathan Dyer hopes the international break can help a refreshed Swansea finish their superb season in strong fashion - starting with Saturday's meeting with Tottenham.

The Swans sit in ninth position in the Premier League table but suffered back-to-back defeats prior to the brief intermission for World Cup qualifying fixtures.

Those defeats to West Brom and Arsenal saw a dip in form on the back of a memorable week when the south Wales club secured the Capital One Cup and reached the 40-point mark in the league with a hard-fought victory over Newcastle.

While the likes of Ashley Williams, Ben Davies, Ki Sung-yueng and Jonathan de Guzman featured for their countries, the majority of Michael Laudrup's squad got the chance to recharge their batteries ahead of the final run-in.

Spurs, on the other hand, had a dozen first-team players away.

Dyer feels he has benefited from the gap between fixtures, and is raring to go as Swansea try to claim a top-half finish.

"It is always nice to have a break," he said. "We had a very busy period in January and it is good to have some time away and come back refreshed and ready to go again.

"As well as we have done so far this season we have to keep pushing and see how high we can finish. Hopefully we can bounce back this weekend.

"It would be easy to relax but we will keep going and set our sights higher and set the standard for next season."

Dyer believes Swansea can prosper against Andre Villas-Boas' side if they focus on their own possession game, which has seen them lose only two home games against the Premier League's top five since securing promotion.

He said: "We have to play our own game, we have shown previously against the big teams that at our best we can match them. It's not about stopping them, it's about playing our own game."

Chico Flores is set to return to the Swansea squad after seven weeks on the sidelines.

The Spaniard has not played since rupturing ankle ligaments against QPR at the start of February, but is close to making a comeback alongside Ashley Williams in defence.

Kemy Agustien (thigh) is unlikely to be involved while Neil Taylor is continuing to make good progress on his return from a broken and dislocated ankle.

Meanwhile, Michael Dawson has challenged Tottenham to end their dismal losing streak and go on another unbeaten run to secure their place in next year's Champions League.

A 12-match unbeaten sequence towards the end of 2012 meant Spurs were odds-on to qualify for the Europe's top club competition, but defeats against Liverpool and Fulham mean Spurs are now in danger of blowing their chances for a second successive year.

A defeat at Swansea, coupled with victory for Arsenal over Reading, will put the Gunners just one point behind their rivals with a game in hand.

Another loss will also give Villas-Boas the unwanted tag of being the first Spurs boss since David Pleat in 2004 to preside over a four-match losing run.

The Portuguese was upbeat about his team's top-four prospects, though, and his captain echoed those sentiments today.

"Everyone was disappointed with the result against Fulham but that's behind us now and we have to push on again," Dawson told Spurs TV Online.

"We showed exactly what we're capable of when we went on that unbeaten run and we've got to look to do something similar between now and the end of the season. We know it will be tough, but the determination is there."

Dawson will be fit for the trip to Wales after overcoming a hamstring injury which cruelly ruled him out of making his first international appearance in two years last week.

Gareth Bale is fit despite suffering from illness on international duty and winger Aaron Lennon (hamstring and groin) is likely to start.

Defender Younes Kaboul is likely to be match fit in 10-15 days, but fellow knee injury victim Sandro is out for the rest of the season.

Source: DSG