Phil SumblerIf all things remain equal then the Swans will be playing their first game in more than three weeks on Monday night when they entertain Fulham at the Swansea.com stadium in potentially our first game since defeat by Nottingham Forest at the same venue on December 11.
Games against QPR, Millwall and Luton have all been lost to illness in either the opposition or our own squad and whilst there remains some doubt over even this fixture going ahead it is time to start talking about games again despite the vast number of postponements taking place at the moment.
Fulham’s midweek game against Reading, like ours against Luton fell foul of the Covid issue with Reading unable to fulfill the fixture which leaves Fulham now in 2nd place in the league having surrendered their lead to Bournemouth after a run that has not seen them notch a league win since 20th November with just four points from the last fifteen available being secured.
With Blackburn Rovers in sparkling form and right now on the heels of Fulham this is a time for their first real test of resolve this season and it will be interesting to see how they react to pressure particularly as they could be outside the top two come kick off on Monday evening.
Assuming the game does go ahead then Russell Martin will have his own headaches to deal with through injuries and also the Covid cases within his own camp which will have impacted his training plans for this week. With more than three weeks since our last game that in itself creates a challenge and the Swans will also be looking slightly nervously over their own shoulders on the back of three straight league defeats and – like Fulham – a poor run of form that has now seen us win just twice since the end of October.
The game in itself will of course be played behind closed doors due to the Welsh government restrictions and was the planned second game of what the club hopes will be just three possible games that will have that restriction imposed. The English government did not follow suit, as was expected they would, on ground closures which certainly leaves the Welsh sides currently at a disadvantage both from a passionate home crowd but also from a monetary perspective.
Both sides will be keen to try and get the game up and running but there remains a doubt over the Swans squad ahead of the game and the club are well aware of the rules and options available to them with regards to the number of fit personnel they need to have to fulfil the fixture itself.
As well as the midweek fixtures for both the Swans and Fulham, three more Championship fixtures have fallen by the wayside midweek and it is anticipated that there will be a similar, if not higher, number of games that fall foul on the weekend.
The lack of games has seen AFC Wimbledon write to the EFL to complain about the number of postponements with their written complaint saying “We want to take this opportunity to call on the EFL to undertake its due processes and implement the strongest-possible measures to ensure that – where a club is able to fulfil a fixture – it does so.
“Further, where it is found that a club was unable to fulfil a fixture, they must be held to account for all decisions which led to that position.”
They have also suggested that the league should reinstate the five substitute rule for the foreseeable future.
It still remains to be seen whether this game goes ahead or not but what we do know is that there may not be a better time this season to play Fulham because of their form and a good chance for us to halt our own bad run – three weeks to stew on that is probably long enough.
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