Swansea City

Two clubs looking to make up for disappointing years in league play will hope to keep their FA Cup dreams alive in a fourth-round matchup.

Swansea City got off to a great start in the FA Cup by defeating Manchester United 2-1 in Round 3. Unfortunately, they are going through a difficult stretch in the English Premier League with only one point in the last six matches.

Of course, all five losses were against the opponents currently in seventh place or better in the league table. They should be able to find much more success against inferior competition.

Meanwhile, Birmingham City have only managed to reach 17th in the Championship table thanks to some poor performances against some of the weaker clubs in the league. They reached this phase of the tournament thanks to a 3-0 win over Bristol Rovers, but this next match will be a challenge.

Still, either side is capable of pulling off a win in this competitive battle to advance in the FA Cup.

When: Saturday, Jan. 25

Where: St. Andrews Stadium, Birmingham, England

Time (U.S.): 10 a.m. ET

Time (U.K.): 3 p.m. GMT

Odds (via SkyBet): Swansea (Even), Birmingham (11-4), Draw (12-5)

Top Storyline: Can Swansea Turn Their Season Around?

A year ago, Swansea finished a respectable ninth in the EPL while also winning the Football League Cup. However, things are not going as well this time around as the squad sits in 15th place, just three points out of the relegation zone.

As previously noted, though, many of the club's troubles can be traced back to the schedule, which has featured some tough competition. Max Hicks of ESPN FC writes that things will be better in the coming weeks:

If Swansea continue to play as well in their next four matches, and against lesser opposition than they've recently had to endure, they ought to win. The small difference in quality means that shots that have been deflected, blocked or saved against the league's top sides should translate into goals against those at the bottom. Likewise, the superior class and killer instinct which has seen top opponents maximise their limited opportunities will be missing.

However, you still have to question the mindset of the players after seeing this much negativity on the pitch. There already was a heated exchange between Chico Flores and Gary Monk, and things could get worse with more losses.

Manager Michael Laudrup discussed this incident with the mindset that things will be better in the future. According to Independent.ie, the coach recently stated:

We have to look forward and say sorry. We have to move on, that's the most important thing. These things always come in difficult moments, and we are in a difficult moment, we have to admit that.

If you win four in a row, even if team-mates raise voices and say not nice things to each other, it is not a story as there are so many positive things to talk about.

It is true that winning can solve all of these problems, but more losses will simply exacerbate them. A loss to Birmingham could end up being devastating for the club's hopes this season. 

Prediction: Swansea 2, Birmingham 1

Birmingham do have a victory over Swansea City this year as they secured a 3-1 win in the Capital One Cup in September. The second-division club certainly wants to repeat this as they will once again be at home at St. Andrews Stadium.

However, Birmingham have surprisingly not been all that effective at home this year, winning only two of their 13 matches in league play. They have been earning draws, but they cannot afford to go on the road in a replay; they will instead be more aggressive to try to win at home.

This will unfortunately lead to more opportunities for Swansea to score against an inconsistent defense. Wilfried Bony has been an effective scorer as of late, and he has the ability to come through if given the opportunity.

On the other hand, Birmingham will be even weaker than at the start of the year after key players Jesse Lingard and Dan Burn returned to their EPL clubs after loan spells. This will negatively affect the club on both ends of the pitch, and it will be hard to pull off the upset.

Swansea need to gain some momentum with this match, and they will accomplish that with a solid road win.

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter for the latest breaking news and analysis.

Although Swansea City fell just short in their upset bid against Manchester City on New Year's Day, the Swans had to come away encouraged due to the captivating performance put forth by forward Wilfried Bony.

Swansea dropped a 3-2 decision to the EPL's highest-scoring squad. However, Bony helped keep the Jacks competitive. Following a Fernandinho marker for Man City in the 14th minute, Bony equalized in stoppage time just prior to the end of the first half, which allowed Swansea to enter the break deadlocked in a 1-1 contest.

As seen in this shot chart courtesy of Squawka Football, Bony actually narrowly missed scoring two additional goals prior to finally beating Citizens goalkeeper Joe Hart.

Bony's first-half goal also ended a lengthy scoring drought. As WhoScored.com indicates, the 25-year-old Ivory Coast native had gone nearly four full games' worth of time without scoring.

Despite that, Infostrada Sports reveals that Bony became Swansea's leading scorer this season with that goal, which says a lot about the Swans' scoring woes.

The breakout performance likely came as a surprise to many, but not to Bony himself. According to Andrew Gwilym of Press Association (h/t the Daily Mail), Bony established scoring 20 goals this season as a benchmark.

I had started scoring goals on a regular basis before my injury and I want to get back to that. I'm a striker and I need that. I have a lot to do to get to my best. There are a lot of games but I try to do my best every time in training and games.

Unfortunately for Swansea City, they were unable to hold the Manchester City attack in check in the second half as Yaya Toure and Aleksandar Kolarov both scored to give the Citizens a 3-1 advantage.

Bony wasn't done, though, as he beat Hart yet again with a long-range bomb in extra time. It was too little, too late from Swansea's perspective, but Bony's strong game may bode well for the Swans for the remainder of the season.

Despite the losing effort, WhoScored.com named Bony the man of the match due to his two-goal outburst.

The statistics suggest that Swansea City got the better of the play against Man City with one more shot and 52 percent of the possession. Even so, Manchester City found a way to win, which is what the top teams tend to do.

If Bony continues to play at this level, though, Swansea is a side that nobody will want to face in the coming weeks.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter

It is perhaps fitting that the latest ground-breaking victory in Swansea City’s history should come on Spanish soil, against a Spanish side.

So much of the club’s progress has been borne out of an obvious Spanish influence. Initially it was through the installation of Roberto Martinez as manager back in 2007, although Kenny Jackett's early contributions should not be dismissed.

And it has continued with the likes of Angel Rangel, Michu and Michael Laudrup who, while not technically Spanish, has played and managed most of his life in the league, so that there is a certain symmetry to the fact their first Europa League victory came against La Liga opposition.

Valencia may not be at the peak of their powers—with a new manager struggling to find a winning formula, and a red card thrust on them in the early stages of Thursday’s match—but a 3-0 win at the New Mestalla was nevertheless another emphatic reminder of Swansea’s rapid and deserved ascension.

Eight years ago, when the Liberty Stadium had just been opened, Swansea were a newly-promoted League One side who, under Jackett, had bold ambitions of reaching the Championship.

Wind on less than a decade and the club are in their third season in the Premier League, their first in European competition, and have a League Cup title to their credit.

They are an example and an inspiration to every Football League club that might think the mechanics of modern football has left the top-tier of the game permanently out of reach.

On Thursday, Swansea—who Laudrup described in the build-up as “a good Spanish side”—had 65 percent of possession, passing their opponents off the pitch in front of their own fans. As Laudrup told the BBC:

We dominated the whole game. They had nothing really and we had ... another three or four big, huge chances to score. [It was] fantastic to win a game against a big club like that in a European competition so of course I'm very pleased.

Valencia were not helped by Adil Rami’s red card after just 10 minutes, the France international compounding an initial mistake by pulling Wilfried Bony down as he moved in on goal.

And they certainly weren't helped when Bony scored just minutes after that huge blow, his first-time drive deflecting off a defender and over the unfortunate keeper.

But further fine finishes from Michu and Jonathan de Guzman (the latter a blistering free-kick) left Laudrup downplaying the significance of that dismissal.

_{(GIF via Footyroom.com)}

"A lot could say that the red card had a huge influence and impact on the game,” Laudrup added. "It is true that it's more difficult with 10 men rather than 11, but we've seen so many times home sides coming back even with one less."

His opposite number, Miroslav Djukic, unsurprisingly played up the importance of the red but acknowledged his team had been outplayed.

"In the 10th minute we're left with a man less and when these things happen it gets difficult," he said, per Goal.com.

"The team is very weak emotionally. At the moment, you can see the team is strong neither offensively or defensively and it's a very tough time."

In 2001 Valencia were coming off their second successive Champions League final loss—right around the same time Swansea were relegated to League Two and sold to a new owner for exactly £1.

But fortunes can change quickly.

Oddly enough, the Welsh club enjoyed a similarly astronomical rise in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Under a young John Toshack, the club rose from the Fourth Division to the top of the First, eventually finishing sixth in their first campaign back in the top tier.

But a series of missteps, from poor transfer dealings to shortfalls in the company books, saw the club regress even quicker than it had arose, eventually needing to be saved from liquidation at the same time as it dropped back to where it had started, in the Fourth Division.

The current iteration look less likely to succumb to similar pitfalls, although such things can never be taken for granted.

Although the jury remains out on the £12m Bony—despite linking up for Swansea’s opening goal on Thursday, the powerful forward is clearly yet to strike up a proper rapport with the talismanic Michu—the team continue to play in an engaging style that most Premier League sides will struggle to deal with.

Building on last year's successful formula, summer signings Jose Canas and Alejandro Pozuelo seem to have ensured some general progression within the squad.

Canas is an efficient ‘water-carrier’ at the base of midfield, while 21-year-old Pozuelo—a deft, if slightly lightweight creative midfielder—looks destined to be a dangerous player for the club, albeit one initially only used sparingly by Laudrup as he adjusts to new surroundings.

Despite those improvements (last year's additions Chico Flores and Pablo Hernandez also look more comfortable), beating last season’s ninth-placed finish might not be so easy—the opportunity cost of memorable evenings like Thursday’s in Valencia.

Sunday’s Premier League opponents Crystal Palace have seen Laudrup’s side play twice (Liverpool on Monday, then Valencia) since their defeat to Manchester United last Saturday—so should enter Sunday’s meeting at Selhurst Park far more refreshed and prepared than their over-worked opponents.

A game that Swansea would otherwise have been confident of winning has suddenly become a lot more testing.

Laudrup saw the effects of such a fixture list in his only season with former club Getafe, reaching the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup but, as a result, stumbling to 14th in the league after finishing ninth the season before.

Understandably, then, he is not so keen to get ahead of himself after one big win, noting to the BBC:

I have to turn back the clock six years ago to my experience with Getafe was similar to this.

We started the group off winning 2-1 at Spurs. And then second game we lost at home to a club from Israel.

So just to say we have to move on. In our case we have to play in less than three days against Crystal Palace, an important game in the Premier League, and then the cup next week.

So what we can do - and that's great - is to bring these two results [against Liverpool and Getafe], one better than the other, along with us for the next game.

That is Laudrup’s job—to focus on the here and now. Based on what he has achieved so far, it is an approach that should ensure the club’s continued progression.

But fans of the club, and even football in general, should take a breath, look around, and marvel at just how far the club have come in such a short space of time.

Because it really is quite remarkable.

Jonjo Shelvey took centre stage at the Liberty Stadium on Monday night in Swansea City's 2-2 draw with Liverpool, but neither "hero" nor "villain" even come close to covering his role in the match.

An inexplicable opening three minutes showcased, in a nutshell, exactly what was to come in the fixture.

The Swansea No. 8 opened the scoring just minutes into the game with his first league goal for his new club, scored against his former club.

A quick-fire show of repentance, though, saw him gift Daniel Sturridge an immediate equaliser.

And as Liverpool fans will tell you, that's Jonjo Shelvey.

Capable of the excellent, seen by many for a period of time as a potential eventual heir to Steven Gerrard's throne...but, ultimately, capable of bringing about his own downfall and that of the team with him.

More of the same was to come with Shelvey's second assist of the night for Liverpool, handing Victor Moses the chance to mark his debut with a goal, before his hat-trick assist finally came for his own teammates, heading down for Michu to equalise for 2-2.

It was a game that showed the best and worst of Shelvey, and it highlighted exactly why he needed to depart from Anfield this summer, take a step back and progress as a player for the betterment of his long-term career.

During the first half of 2012-13, Shelvey was an important part of Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool side.

He featured regularly in both Premier League and Europa League fixtures, but his role differed greatly game to game. Acting as a central midfielder, Shelvey brought aggression, adventurous passing and movement, and no shortage of energy, but an unbalanced squad meant he was seen as something of a utility player.

Shelvey played from both flanks in attack, once at the tip of a diamond and even as a false nine centre-forward in European competition on one occasion.

It showed the faith in him as a player that the manager had, but it also highlighted that he had much to do to earn a regular place in the side. After a red card against Manchester United and a poor performance or two just before the turn of the year, that regular place moved further away than ever.

Over the second half of last term, Shelvey featured just four times in the Premier League, and it became apparent by the end of the season that Rodgers no longer regarded him as a good enough potential player to continue investing playing time in him.

Moving on became the only viable option, for both Shelvey and Liverpool.

But, even so, Shelvey was not, and is not, a bad player. At just 21 years of age, this is already an England international midfielder who has 50 Premier League games under his belt, another 50 at lower league and is even approaching 20 Continental matches to his name.

His experience outweighs many who play in his position of a similar age, and so do many of his technical abilities.

Shelvey is impetuous, a little too big for his boots, demanding of himself and capable of far more than he has managed to produce on a regular basis so far.

But all of those reasons are exactly why the move was needed; he needs to be able to play matches to show what he's good at and to learn where he can improve. A match against Liverpool shows him, in stark terms, the extremities of both.

Swansea City, as an attack-minded side who, though they enjoy large spells of possession, have become a quick and direct side when necessary, are a team that suits Shelvey down to the ground. They have expectations of winning games, not merely turning up and hoping to avoid defeat, and yet they will not attract too many headlines if he loses them a point or two here and there.

The mental strength Shelvey will have to show and also gain from being allowed to make such mistakes as those against Liverpool—and yet still be relied upon to make up for them afterward—will help to make him a better all-round player.

Swansea have paid a relatively low fee for a player who has a considerably higher talent ceiling than he has demonstrated to date. He might not ever reach the heights once hoped of him in replacing Gerrard for club and country, but he can certainly be a match-winner for both, given time, patience and belief.

Follow @karlmatchett

The 2013/14 Premier League season is finally upon us, to the delight and glee of football enthusiasts across the country. However, as fans get ready to travel the length and breadth of England in support of their most treasured club, something feels different.

Could it be that the England Under-21's finally managed a good result this summer, following their disastrous performance at the European Under-21 Football Championship in Israel? What about Real Madrid's interest in a Welshman? It's not as if that's a regular occurrence. I've got it: Manchester United are without Sir Alex Ferguson at the helm for the first time in 26 years.

Former Everton manager David Moyes takes charge of Manchester United this weekend, as the Red Devils travel to South Wales to contest with last season's League Cup winners Swansea City. The world's media attention will be fixated on the Liberty Stadium with the possibility of an early upset caused via poor team selection, or mediocre tactical instructions.

Manchester United Team News:

Ashley Young - foot injury
Rafael - hamstring
Javier Hernandez - hamstring
Nani - groin/pelvis
Nick Powell - leg
Darren Fletcher - bowel

Swansea City Team News:

Jonathan de Guzman - Concussion

An eye infection caused Michael Carrick to miss England's 3-2 victory over Scotland on Wednesday night, but the midfielder should make the starting line-up on Saturday. It hasn't been a straightforward preseason for David Moyes in terms of injuries, highlighting a possible weakness in United's armour ahead of next season: Do they have enough strength in-depth to challenge both domestically and in Europe?

Jonjo Shelvey and Pablo Hernandez have recently suffered with illness, but both should be fit, offering an extra layer and dimension to Swansea City's attacks.

Manchester United had a turbulent end to the 2012/13 Premier League campaign, picking up six points from their last five fixtures, with the final 5-5 thriller away to West Albion signalling the end of Sir Alex Ferguson's reign as United manager. In contrast, Swansea City could only manage three points from their last five matches, grabbing a victory against Wigan Athletic on 7th May after coming from behind twice to win 3-2, with goals from Itay Shechter and Dwight Tiendalli.

During their two encounters last season (Swansea City 1-1 Manchester United, and Manchester United 2-1 Swansea City), the Swans dominated the tackling department, with an average tackle success of 87%, while Man United could only muster a mediocre 72% average tackle success. 

Swansea City only managed two shots on target at Old Trafford, but tested the reflexes of David de Gea a total of nine times at the Liberty Stadium last December. If the home side can win the same number of personal duels, while achieving a similar number of shots on target, we could be in for a thrilling encounter!

However, a possible cause for concern for Swansea City fans could be their inability to threaten from set-pieces, with only five goals hitting the back of the net from dead-ball situations last season. Manchester United, on the other hand, scored 26 set-piece goals—the highest total in the Premier League.

While the most dangerous player in terms of goals will be last season's top goalscorer Robin van Persie, I believe that the battle will be won and lost throughout midfield. Michael Carrick has the talent, passing range and technical qualities to control the match from deep, central midfield zones—orchestrating his team's advances towards the opposition's goal, and it will be the job of Michu, and new signing Wilfried Bony, to hassle the England international in order to stop him dictating play.

Many people have bemoaned Manchester United's midfield and lack of new signings, but Carrick has an abundance of attacking and defensive qualities to dictate play and win matches on his own. He may not possess the ability to surge past his marker, but he gives United a solid platform from which to build from the back, achieving the second highest amount of completed passes (2,397) in the Premier League last season, behind Arsenal's Mikel Arteta (2,429).

Judging by the closeness of their previous encounters during the last campaign, my prediction is a 1-1 draw. However, if Swansea City aren't alert to the runs of Robin van Persie, and their midfield give Michael Carrick time on the ball, David Moyes may just leave South Wales with all three points.

From Squawka.com - team and player football stats

Over the course of two games in which Swansea City recorded a 4-0 aggregate victory over Malmo, Michael Laudrup made it clear he has every intention of letting his new strike partnership gel from the word go.

Seven changes were made for the visit to the Swedbank Stadion with the away side sitting on a 4-0 lead, but both Michu and Wilfried Bony were started and given the chance to continue building an understanding.

Michu was the star of last season, notching 18 goals and two assists in 35 starts to make him the revelatory signing of the summer.

Going into the new season, however, Swansea knew they needed to acquire help.

They did so in the form of Bony, who arrives from Vitesse Arnhem to the tune of £12 million and slots instantly into Laudrup's starting XI.

The Ivorian scored an astonishing 31 goals in 30 starts in the Eredivisie last season, but there's always a question mark over how well a talent from the Dutch league will adapt to English football.

Laudrup has given him every chance, and where many managers would have preferred to save their star players for the opening-day tussle with Manchester United, Bony and Michu took to the field for what is already their second competitive game in each other's company.

The tie in Malmo was a little drab, with Swansea understandably playing a conservative, risk-free game given their first-leg advantage.

But no matter the stage, the stakes or the competition, it's become clear very early on that Bony and Michu are two clever players who can excel alongside each other.

Bony's presence as the central striker in Laudrup's 4-2-3-1 formation allows Michu to move back into the No. 10 role he prospered in with Rayo Vallecano.

He's now free to roam in front of the defence and find space, although Alejandro Pozuelo's insistence on cutting in from the right-hand side seriously harmed his fortunes in Sweden.

Watching Bony's goals in the Eredivisie, they look uncontested—easy. Watching him in the flesh reveals that's only the case because of his excellent movement and flawless understanding of what midfielders are looking for from their front men.

Bony is strong as an ox and very adept at keeping the ball in tight spaces, ensuring that he can drop in deeper and Michu can surge forward. Those interchanges and link-ups are going to be extremely hard to track.

Laudrup's insistence on playing them this early is a good sign for Swans fans, who can begin to look forward to a truly excellent partnership blossoming on their team.

Swansea needed to find someone to relieve Michu of the goalscoring load, and it looks like they've found the perfect man.

Follow @stighefootball

Last season, Swansea City came out of nowhere to finish in ninth place in the English Premier League and win the Capital One Cup.

Most of their success last season can be attributed to the shrewd Summer business that was done by manager Michael Laudrup.

Laudrup tapped into a talent pool in Spain that he knew all too well and his eye for talent and a bargain deal helped usher in a new era of success in Wales.

The arrivals of Chico Flores, Pablo Hernandez and Michu last Summer were three of the most underrated moves of the 2012 Summer transfer window, and without those key signings, the Swans would not have achieved as much as they did.

Flores became the defensive rock that Swansea were in search for, while Hernandez led the club in assists with 10 and Michu took the EPL by storm to score 18 goals.

This Summer, Laudrup is at it again, as he has been one of the most active managers in the EPL since the opening of the transfer window on July 1.

Including the recent arrival of forward Wilfried Bony from Eredivisie club Vitesse Arnhem, who according to a report by The Guardian, officially became a Swansea player on Thursday, July 11. Laudrup has already brought in six players, four of whom have links to the Spanish game.

The other player that does not have a link to La Liga who is now officially a member of the Swans as of July 3 when his deal was reported by BBC Sport,  is Jonjo Shelvey, who joined the club from Liverpool.

One of the Spanish foursome acquired by the club this Summer is a familiar face who was with the club last season.

Before the transfer window officially opened, BBC Sport reported that Jonathan De Guzman would be joining the Welsh club on loan from Villarreal for the second consecutive season.

As for the other three players joining the club from Spain, B/R's La Liga expert Tre Atkinson has a brief scouting report on all three of the players.

Alejandro Pozuelo (Real Betis), Jose Canas (Real Betis) and Jordi Amat (Espanyol) all have added to the Spanish contingent at the Liberty Stadium, which now stands at seven players.

Pozuelo, who was the last of three players to join the club this Summer on July 2, according to the club's website, is described by Atkinson as a typical out-and-out midfielder who will thrive in Laudrup's system as he continues to develop.

Canas was the first signing of the Summer by Laudrup, as he made his deal official on June 6, according to the EPL's official website.

The former Real Betis player is described by Atkinson as a true winger who has plenty of potential and raw speed. Canas is also described as a player who is just scratching the surface when it comes to his scoring abilities.

That brings us to Amat, who could potentially be one of the better center-backs to come out of the next generation of Spanish players.

Amat joined Swansea on June 27 from Espanyol, according The Sun. The 21-year-old did not spend any time with his parent club last season as he was on loan at Rayo Vallecano, a club that Michu knows all too well from his time spent there in the past.

Atkinson describes Amat as a player who is not afraid to make a challenge in any situation and someone who can improve on his aerial skills as he progresses as a player.

So what exactly does all this business done by Swansea early in the transfer window mean for their upcoming season?

First of all, it gives all six players a chance to adapt to the managerial style of Laudrup. With that playing to their advantage, all six of the new arrivals will have a chance to break into the starting 11 for the first match of the season at home against Manchester United.

Another guarantee about the new signings at Swansea is that they will not be talked about until they begin to thrive on the pitch.

If the sextet of talented players have half the level of success that Laudrup's first round of signings had, there is no doubt that we will be awarding praises to Laudrup's ability to find talent and have them thrive in his system.

Follow me on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Swansea City are said to be close to sealing their first major transfer signing of the summer with the capture of Ivory Coast international striker, Wilfried Bony.

According to Gerrit van Leeuwen of Sky Sports, many other Premier League teams were looking at Bony with a view to a move this summer, but the Swans have agreed to a fee of around £10.2 million to bring in the striker, who is currently playing for Vitesse in the Dutch top flight.

The move, when confirmed, will be seen as an excellent capture for Swansea and their manager Michael Laudrup, who was sure to seek additional goals this summer to boost his side who were somewhat reliant on Michu last term.

So what does Bony bring to the Swansea attack?

Physical Presence

An imposing 1.82 metres tall, Bony utilises his strong but slender frame to lead the line for his team. Good acceleration over short distances help him best an opponent in a one-on-one situation and he possesses the speed to beat central defenders when taking them on.

He's a strong player, but not one who opts to work by brute force, rather using his physicality to shield the ball as he holds it up or makes his move into the penalty area.

Don't expect him to look for constant balls aimed towards his head—not that Swansea would be doing that anyway—instead Bony will use his movement to find space in the channels or inside the penalty area, darting into gaps and getting his body between defender and ball.

Goals, Goals, Goals

With 31 league goals in 30 league games this past season, it's clear where the attraction lies with Bony. He also added another six goals in six games between the Dutch Cup and Europa League, plus another strike at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, totalling an impressive 38 goals in 39 matches for club and country.

Bony has shown an ability to net all kinds of goals; headers, close-range finishes, penalties, solo efforts and driven strikes are all in his repertoire.

As seems to be the slightly patronising norm, questions will be asked of his ability to find the net in the Premier League on such a regular occurrence when comparing it to the strength of the Dutch domestic league, but he certainly has the tools to be a scorer if he has the service.

At 24 years old he still has room to improve his finishing, along with most other parts of his game, but as a regular starter, Swansea will certainly be looking for 12-15 goals from him.

Tactical Fit

At Vitesse, Bony has had the talented Marco Van Ginkel providing him with chances aplenty. It seems likely that at Swansea, as the striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation, he will have the more aggressive and attack-minded Michu operating behind him and two supporting creative talents from the flanks.

A Michu-Bony combination seems laden with goals on first sight, and given the Spaniard's propensity to make late runs from deep into the penalty area, it could indeed be a partnership which works well together.

If Michu keeps his fitness going, there's a strong possibility that he'll get more chances on goal next season than he did last year, even as the main front man; Bony is excellent at holding the ball until a runner surpasses him and then feeding a quick pass off for a shot at goal. Michu will revel getting involved with this kind of service to feet.

It is this kind of combination that Swansea fans should expect to get excited about where Bony is concerned. The Ivorian can make the sum of all the team's attacking parts add up to a lot more than they did last season—as well as bringing his own goalscoring talents to the party.

Swansea City have already qualified for the UEFA Europa League next season. The Swans hammered Bradford City 5-0 in the Capital One Cup Final in February to book their place in the younger brother to the UEFA Champions League.

That qualification comes as the Swans are gearing up for life in the English Premier League as a regular European contender. 

Since soaring back into the Premier League in 2011, Swansea City have set new standards on how to run a promoted club on and off the pitch. Gone is the conventional wisdom that a team must fight its way out of the trenches in its first couple of seasons in the EPL.

That strange insight has been replaced by the reality the Swans have given every other team; that good football can be played and results achieved on a low budget. Never in the 21-year history of the Premier League have so many promoted clubs tried to play the game in a technical way, despite the very real fear of relegation.

This philosophy comes directly from Swansea City as Championship and Premier League chairmen finally learn the age old saying of "build it and they will come." This simply recognises that fans are not as obsessed with results as most people think.

Fans want to see entertainment, and in football the best entertainment comes from a technical game.

For this approach Huw Jenkins, Swansea City's chairman, deserves huge credit.

Jenkins, who owns 12.5 percent of the club, took over day-to-day running of Swansea in 2002. Back then the Swans were struggling in every conceivable way in the fourth tier of English football. They narrowly avoided relegation to the conference on the final day of the 2002-03 season by beating Hull City, 4-2, to relegate Exeter City to the fifth level of the English football pyramid, the conference.

Roll on 10 years and Swansea are no longer scrapping at the lower reaches of the professional game. Jenkins' insight and clever planning have seen a number of intelligent football men appointed to the club over the years as they built slowly toward the Premier League.

The secret to Swansea's success is continuity. 

Managers may have changed over the years, Brian Flynn, Kenny Jackett, Roberto Martinez, Brendan Rodgers and most recently Michael Laudrup. However, the one thing they all have in common is that they came in to work with Swansea's people.

This approach keeps the spine of the club the same off the pitch. In the end it gives Swansea an advantage over other clubs who sack entire backroom teams when they release managers from their contracts. 

Now with Michael Laudrup in charge, and having posted record profits in 2012, Swansea are well on the way to the next phase of their development: competing in Europe on a regular basis. When you consider that Swansea's Liberty Stadium is the smallest in the EPL at 20,750, you realise that these figures are absolutely massive.

Swansea's record profits last season have allowed them to make plans to re-develop the Liberty Stadium into a 30,000-seat stadium. Should they achieve this, then their profits could conceivably double.

Add in an anomaly in the Premier League, a wage cap of £35,000 with a £5,000 win bonus, and you can see that Swansea are very well-run financially.

The key to Swansea's success on the pitch, particularly since Roberto Martinez was put in charge, has been continuity. The now Wigan Athletic manager deserves huge credit for putting the finishing touches to Jenkins' foundations. Under Martinez the Swans played in an attractive manner. 

Martinez came to the club with a definitive technical philosophy, which has since been carried on and improved by Rodgers and Laudrup. Each manager has used the same basic setup and style since 2007 with the same philosophy ingrained across all sections of the club.

The success in the League Cup final has fast-forwarded their ambitions by a couple of seasons. It has also shown how prudent Jenkins is as a chairman to take in Laudrup despite a relatively poor couple of seasons after success with Getafe in 2007-08.

Under Laudrup, Getafe, the smaller Madrid brother of Real and Atletico, played some brilliant free-flowing football and proved a difficult side to beat. The Azulones finished 14th and made it as far as the UEFA Cup quarterfinals, and lost the Copa Del Rey final to Valencia.

However, Laudrup resigned from the minnows after just one season. Unsurprisingly he was immediately linked with numerous bigger clubs.

Now at Swansea the Dane appears settled. He has signed a new contract which will, in theory, keep him at the club until 2015. The reason for giving Laudrup a new contract, despite having just joined in August as Brendan Rodgers' replacement, was to give the club continuity and to fend off any interested parties.

Keen to improve and add to the team for their Europa League campaign next season, Laudrup has already identified Sevilla's Alberto Botia as a potential signing. The 24-year-old ex-Barcelona graduate fits the template exactly for the kind of player Swansea sign. 

The excellently named Angel Rangel has signed a new contract until 2016, as has Ashley Williams and a host of other members of the Swansea nucleus. The club also hopes to force through the permanent transfer of Jonathan de Guzman from Villareal.

Keeping the core of his squad together will be of utmost importance for the sought after Laudrup. He will also be keen to add class. Considering his experience of Scandinavian and Spanish football it would be no surprise to see more quality arrivals in the summer.

In his first season in charge, Laudrup raided La Liga four times. In came Michu, Pablo Hernandez, de Guzman and Roland Lamah for a combined fee of £7.5 million. Michu, Hernandez and de Guzman have all been spectacular successes.

The backbone of a well-run club is there for all to see. Huw Jenkins' skillful chairmanship has seen to that. The backroom staff and support team have remained consistently run with realistic and progressive targets given to them each and every season.

The X-factor to make all of this succeed is a manager on the same wavelength with insightful knowledge of modern football and foreign transfer markets.

With the great Dane in charge, the Swans are set for progression again next season. No one would bet against them winning the Europa League on their first appearance in Europe, in their 101st year as a club.

The X-factor behind it all? The X-factor for the next stage of their development?

None other than Michael Laudrup.

Statistics provided by www.swanseacity.net, www.soccerbase.com and www.premierleague.com.

You can look me up on Twitter @WillieGannon