Swansea City

Ashley Williams, who has been linked to some rather favourable destinations recently, is good enough to play for one of the Premier League's top clubs.

At least that's the view of Chris Coleman, Williams' current international boss, who has talked up the ability of the central defender ahead of Swansea's game with Arsenal this weekend.

The former Coventry and Fulham manager told the BBC:

If I was manager of a top-four club I'd have no qualms in looking at Ashley Williams and trying to sign him.

I'm not surprised that he's being linked with big clubs [and] I'm not surprised he's done as well as he has done.

He's a terrific defender and a great personality [and has] a great mentality towards football.

Strong words from Coleman, and in the same article Michael Laudrup confirms some of the bigger clubs have checked in on him.

But is he worth the gamble, or is it right to consider him a gamble given the standard of his play?

Ashley Williams poses a true conundrum for analysts, scouts and managers when trying to measure his ability and ceiling.

It's been a steep rise for the 28-year-old, who won League One in 2008 with the club he will lead into Europe next year should he stay. In between those two extremes there's been transfer bids declined, multiple awards and, most notably, the awarding of the captain's armband for Wales.

His ball-playing abilities as a centre-back are strong, and that's an increasingly attractive trait in the modern game. Alongside him is the reliable Chico, and together they form a classic stopper-sweeper combination.

Chico—the thoroughly atypical Spanish defender—moves forward, reads the game and makes interceptions at will. His average of 3.1 per game is an EPL-high for central defenders, and he's second only to ball-magnets Morgan Schneiderlin and Sandro in the overall list.

Williams retreats when Chico moves forward, and the onus is on him to provide the last line of defence and pick up the opposition's target striker. He ranks third for clearances as a result with 11 per game, and only Mike Williamson and Ciaran Clark—two relegation-threatened centre-backs who are consistently under the cosh—better him.

He's also instrumental in the passing game, and much of Swansea's ability to control the tempo, retain the ball and, as a result, intimidate opponents is sourced in him: If your centre-backs aren't comfortable on the ball, you can't implement a squad-wide footballing blueprint.

His partnership with Chico, his aerial prowess and his comfort on the deck is a plus point point for Laudrup, who knows what he's getting from his defensive duo no matter what the arena.

The problem for others, however, is that these strengths are tough to gauge. How much of Williams' success is down to the system he's in?

It's a minor case of La Masia syndrome, whereby Barcelona youth products walk into the first team and look immediately at home. Why? Because the same brand of football is played from the U5-level to professional standard, so there's no steep learning curve.

Take that player out of Barca's Cruyff-inspired system, and what do you have? A mixed bag. Jeffren scored an El Clasico goal in November 2010, but his career is in question now that he's moved onto Sporting.

So what can Williams offer a bigger club? At 28, you'd think he's done growing, and his rapid transformation into one of the league's finer defenders is impressive enough to suggest he's a fast learner.

There's also his intangibles to consider and weigh. He's a phenomenal leader on the pitch, the kind many teams would want to be able to look to in a time of need.

Despite his obvious talent, the fact that he's excelling in a system so suited to him makes for a difficult case study.

That said, a team like Arsenal, who are crying out for a stable leader at the back, should absolutely look at Williams as a viable option this summer. He is good enough.

Statistics via WhoScored? and Squawka.com

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Swansea City capped a remarkable turnaround in fortunes when they collected the Capital One Cup at Wembley on Sunday.

Few could have predicted that the South Wales club, which had fallen so far from their previous heights of a sixth-placed finish in the English top tier in 1982, would claim their first major trophy 10 years after almost tumbling into non-league football.

Swans manager Michael Laudrup has continued the work of predecessors Roberto Martinez, Paulo Sousa and Brendan Rodgers with seamless transition and taken the club one step further by winning a trophy.

The 5-0 demolition of Bradford City was not merely due to the lack of experience evident in the League Two side—it was more a case of a team reaching their creative peak, and few Premier League clubs would have lived with Swansea's possession and movement on display at Wembley.

But Sunday was a far cry from the lows which have blighted the club since they reached the top flight in the early 1980s.

Swansea had been a team content merely to bob between the old Second and Fourth Divisions without their feet ever leaving the ground.

All that changed on Mar. 1, 1978, when former Liverpool striker John Toshack was handed his first managerial role at Vetch Field after Harry Griffiths stepped down from the role.

The ex-Wales international became the youngest manager in the Football League at 28 and promptly oversaw a promotion to Division Three two months after taking charge. That triumph was marred by the death of ex-manager Griffiths before the end of the season.

The following season brought further success for the Swans and Toshack as they achieved a second successive promotion.

Two seasons later, Swansea sneaked into the old Division One for the first time in their history on goal difference ahead of Blackburn Rovers. The meteoric rise, though, had not finished.

The opening day of the new season saw new signing Bob Latchford hit a hat-trick in a 5-1 drubbing of Leeds United. The upstarts had arrived.

Toshack had plundered former club Liverpool and their Merseyside rivals for experienced players such as Latchford, Ian Callaghan, Phil Boersma and Garry Stanley, along with Welsh players such as Alan Curtis and Robbie James.

Further wins over Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham saw Swansea challenging for the title before a lack of depth in the squad cost dearly and they ended the season 18 points behind champions Liverpool.

The seemingly inevitable second-season syndrome hit Swansea hard and they were relegated twice in succession, landing in the Third Division in 1984. Toshack paid the price as a result when he was sacked.

The club would drop into the bottom tier in 1986 alongside another fallen giant, Wolves. But relegation had been the least of Swansea's concerns, with local businessman Doug Sharpe saving the club from a winding-up order in December 1985.

Four years after regularly hitting the top spot in the First Division, Swansea were back where they started. It had been an ignominious fall, but it wasn't over.

In 2003, Swansea were floundering at the foot of the bottom tier and it was only by winning their final two league games that prevented the club from dropping out of the Football League.

The nadir, though, had been reached and Swansea would again rise through the divisions before the 2011 playoff win over Reading ensured they became the first Welsh club to play in the re-branded Premier League.

The success of recent seasons is due in no small measure to the club choosing wisely on the managerial front.

Sunday's cup triumph and Swansea's form throughout the season will come at a price, as Laudrup has been strongly linked with a return to his former club, Real Madrid, to replace Jose Mourinho this summer.

But the Liberty Stadium hierarchy have been unstinting in their pursuit of fresh, young managerial talent in recent seasons. 

For Laudrup, read Martinez, Sousa and Rodgers. All were relatively untried in club management, but Swansea's courage in appointing all of them has paid a rich dividend.

Resigned to the knowledge that their successful bosses will always be striving to test themselves at the highest level, chairman Huw Jenkins and his board constantly maintain a lookout for potential coaches of the future.

It is a tactic that has served the Welsh club well and will do so in the future.

Anyone doubting the wisdom of appointing the right manager should ask Swansea supporters about Kevin Cullis. But that's another story...

Swansea City won the Capital One Cup by the largest ever margin on Sunday, battering League Two Bradford City 5-0 in a thoroughly one-sided contest.

Before this momentous day that will live long in the history of the Swans' fanbase, however, the Bantams were tearing up trees in this competition. They beat Premier League sides Wigan Athletic, Arsenal on penalties and then Aston Villa over two legs to secure a date at Wembley.

But it all went horribly wrong for Phil Parkinson's side in London.

"A bridge too far" some say, the "occasion got to them" offer others. While that may be the case, the simple reason for Bradford's demise was that Michael Laudrup didn't let them play to their strengths.

The Bantams are not a technically-gifted side, and Parkinson has built a team that thrives on direct football and specialises in set pieces. That's fine, because they're in the fourth tier of English football and played to their strengths because teams were foolish enough to let them.

Their opening goal against Arsenal was a second ball from a free kick—it was only half-cleared and Gary Thompson stuck it into the roof of the net from the far post.

With something to hold onto on home turf, they were always going to be difficult to budge. Arsenal peppered their goal, and after 28 shots and 67 percent possession, drew level in the 88th minute thanks to Thomas Vermaelen.

Extra-time was heart-in-the-mouth stuff for the home support, with the lottery of penalties sending the underdogs through.

Moving into the semifinal against Aston Villa, Phil Parkinson will have been well aware of the opposition's struggles from corners.

To say Villa have conceded a lot of goals from set pieces doesn't tell the whole story. On average they concede around the same as everybody else, it's the fact that the defence is giving away 15-20 corners every game.

Jason Hanson and co. will have been licking their lips at this prospect, and at Valley Parade a beleaguered and battered Villa side came under the aerial cosh.

Again, it was lower-league-style goals that undid a Premier League defence. After Villa controlled the game for 20 minutes, a second ball from a free kick fortuitously found its way to Nakhi Wells who stroked it in expertly.

The fragile confidence the Midlands side had shattered, and from there two headed goals from set pieces piled on the misery.

In the second leg, another set piece did the damage, so Parkinson will have repeated the same tactics to his players for the final, and why would he change? When it became apparent diminutive midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng was set to play in defence, Parkinson must have allowed himself a secret smile.

Unfortunately for Bradford they never got going, and credit to Michael Laudrup for nullifying his opposition.

In his pre-match interview on Sky Sports 1, Laudrup said he'd watched "a few of their games," but it seems he watched a little more than that and rightly so.

Deploying Ki at the back helped his side retain the ball with ease and settle into a passing groove that Bradford couldn't break up, and the Swans were also well drilled when it came to minimising the amount of set pieces given away.

No one flew into any tackles, and Bradford earned just one corner. In the 86th minute.

Bradford stacked two banks of four deep in their own half and became the Yorkshire wall Arsenal and Aston Villa failed to climb, so it was ironic that the first and telling goal came from a three-pass counterattack that Nathan Dyer finished off.

After the ice was broken, the Bantams had no choice but to come out a little more. Four goals later, and not a single sniff for Bradford as their forwards were still playing so deep (in line with Leon Britton), this game was a formality.

Laudrup bagged Swansea a major trophy and avoided a major upset by one making one subtle change (Ki) and instilling care and discipline to his side.

No fouls give away, no free kicks conceded, no corners awarded, no goals for Bradford.

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Swansea striker Michu has ended speculation over his future by signing a new four-year deal with the South Wales team, as confirmed on the official club website swanseacity.net.

The 26-year-old is, arguably, the find of the Premier League season after hitting 16 goals in 28 appearances for the Liberty Stadium side.

The forward joined Swansea in July for £2 million from Rayo Vallecano, citing the influence of new manager Michael Laudrup for his decision to move to the Welsh side as BBC Sport reported.

Michu rewarded the Swansea boss with two goals in his first competitive appearance in the 5-0 win at Queens Park Rangers and he has since gone on to forge his name on the English top flight in style.

Spain manager Vicente del Bosque is set to give Michu his debut for the national team in a friendly against Uruguay next month on the back of his performances this season, according to Marca.

But the new contract for Michu is a notable boost for Swansea as a club and a tribute to Laudrup.

The Welsh team made their Premier League bow last season, finishing a creditable 11th in the table under former manager Brendan Rodgers.

With Rodgers departing to Liverpool in the summer, Swansea supporters could have been forgiven if they were thinking of a troubled season ahead under Laudrup with Scott Sinclair leaving for Manchester City and Joe Allen heading to Anfield.

In fact, the Daily Mail reported a fractious relationship between manager and some players in October.

However, the Swansea squad have been motoring toward success so far this season and are currently ninth in the Premier League table and have reached the League Cup final.

Michu, though, remains the catalyst for the season's success with his excellent goalscoring record in the top flight.

His decision to commit himself to the club until 2016 underlines the belief he has in former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Denmark player Laudrup.

Michu's arrival at the club, alongside the captures of Chico Flores from Genoa and the on-loan deal for Jonathan de Guzman from Villarreal have acted as a catalyst for established Swansea players such as Angel Rangel this season and ensured the transition from Rodgers to Laudrup was seamless.

Exceptional results such as the wins at Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in domestic competition this season have taken the Swans to new heights.

Michu's new contract merely underlines that the Swans are about to take flight under Laudrup.

Manchester United's elegant assassin Robin van Persie is the Premier League's top scorer this season with 17 goals. Luis Suarez, Liverpool's next great No. 7, is two back with 15.

But while Van Persie and Suarez might lead the plaudits and the scoring charts, it's Swansea striker Michu who can lay claim to being the Premier League's most efficient marksman this year. 

The below data from EPLIndex shows Michu to have better chance-conversion numbers than any player to have taken 50 or more shots in the Premier League this season. The Spaniard has put away 25 percent of his opportunities, with that figure rising to 60 percent when he is presented with "clear-cut" openings.

By comparison, Suarez has snaffled up just 16 percent of his chances for Liverpool. The Uruguayan is an even-bet with the goal at his mercy, having scored from 50 percent of his clear-cut openings.

Van Persie matches Michu at the 25-percent mark for overall chance conversion, but his rate falls to 37 percent for clear-cut chances—below the numbers achieved by Michu, Suarez, Gareth Bale, Demba Ba and Jermain Defoe

The stats would also suggest that Chelsea signing Ba has been more deadly than Suarez this season, with the Senegalese striker good for 18 percent of all chances and 54 percent of his clear-cut openings.

But it's Swansea's £2 million signing Michu who's the deadliest of all. Just imagine how many goals the 26-year-old might get with a supply line of the like afforded to Van Persie every week. 

Swansea City manager Michael Laudrup has been applauded for his summer signings of Michu and Pablo Hernandez from La Liga, and it looks like he has gone to the Spanish top flight to bring in another player. 

On Tuesday, Sky Sports News confirmed on Twitter that the Swans brought in another player from La Liga. 

Swansea have signed winger Roland Lamah on an 18-month deal from Osasuna #ssn

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) January 15, 2013

The Telegraph also confirmed the move of Belgian winger Roland Lamah from Osasuna to Swansea City on an 18-month loan deal. 

Lamah, 25, has made 15 appearances for Osasuna in La Liga this season, amounting to seven starts and eight appearances as a substitute. 

In those seven starts, Lamah has lined up as a left winger, a position where he will play at Swansea. 

Currently, the Swans have utilized Wayne Routledge the most at the left wing position.

Lamah's entrance into the Swansea fold will provide Routledge with competition at the position in the preferred 4-2-3-1 position that Laudrup employs. 

Swansea will be the seventh club that Lamah has played for since he turned professional in 2003.

Lamah is the latest Belgian to join an EPL club with high-profile players like Marouane Fellaini and Eden Hazard already playing in the English top flight. 

While he is currently not in the national team picture, Lamah has made five appearances for Belgium since 2009. 

For more transfer updates on Swansea City and the rest of the EPL, follow me on Twitter, @JTansey90.

When Brendan Rodgers left Swansea to take over at Liverpool, I immediately made Swansea my red-hot favourite to be relegated back down to the Championship.

Second-season syndrome hits many newly promoted clubs. In a club's first year in the league, it is often able to take a lot of teams by surprise and survive comfortably, but in the second season, it can struggle as other teams work out how to play it.

Swansea more than survived in their first season. They acquitted themselves brilliantly, and their stunning passing game was the envy of many so-called superior teams across the country.

Inevitably, when a team does well, the biggest clubs start casting admiring glances in its direction. Players like Scott Sinclair, Ashley Williams, Joe Allen and Danny Graham looked vulnerable after fantastic seasons the previous year.

However, it was the manager who was most sought after. Eventually Swansea accepted defeat, and Rodgers was allowed to take over the Liverpool job after the sacking of Kenny Dalglish.

Scott Sinclair was allowed to go to Manchester City, and Joe Allen followed his manager to Liverpool. It seemed like things were going from bad to worse for Swansea, and it seemed like they were in for a long hard season.

However, the one bright spark for Swansea fans during the summer was the appointment of their new manager.

I had followed Michael Laudrup's managerial career since his early days in coaching. What had really impressed me about him was the willingness he had shown to learn his managerial craft. A man of his talents as a player could have walked into some of the top jobs in Europe on his reputation alone, but he didn't choose that path.

He was assistant manager of the Danish national team for a while before taking the managerial job at Brondby in 2002. He was a great success during his four years in charge of the club. He won the league title once and finished runner-up in the other three seasons.

He also won the Danish Cup on two occasions and the Danish Super Cup twice. He left Brondby in the summer of 2006.

After a year long break from management, he took his next job at Getafe in Spain. This was when the wider football world really started taking notice of Laudrup as a manager.

Although he was at the club for little over a year, Getafe enjoyed one of their most successful periods in their history. He led them to the final of the Copa Del Rey and the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup.

What followed were two shorter spells at Spartak Moscow where he was sacked for the very first time before a spell at Mallorca, who he managed to save from relegation.

He then took over at Swansea in June 2012. After losing two of his best players in Scott Sinclair and Joe Allen, it seemed clear that Laudrup was going to have a big challenge on his hands.

However, just before the transfer window closed, he managed to sign a talented midfielder from Spain called Michu for the tiny sum of just £2 million.

What a piece of business it has proved to be. Michu has taken the league by storm, and Swansea are riding high, with the highlight of their season so far being their 2-0 victory January 9 at Chelsea in the first leg of their League Cup semifinal, which leaves them with one foot already at Wembley.

They have much to thank Laudrup for, as he enabled their success this season. A couple of slight changes have been made to the team that was so brilliant last season.

Although Swansea still play a possession-based game, they have adopted a more direct style this season, looking to get the ball to Michu more quickly than they did last season.

Laudrup has also seen the potential that Wayne Routledge has always had, and he has utilised it effectively, with the winger having the best season of his career so far.

Swansea have also been more compact in defence and shown all the signs that they are going to establish themselves for the long haul in the Premier League.

The problem Swansea might have is once again holding onto their outstanding manager. Chelsea will be one of many clubs looking for a new manager in the summer.

Swansea fans will be hoping that Laudrup manages to resist the lure of the big clubs that he has managed to do so far in his career. Sooner or later, though, one of the greatest teams in the world will come calling for this outstanding manager, and he won't be able to turn them down.

The two enemies meet again: Swansea City and Arsenal.

It doesn't immediately make sense why a matchup between these two teams is so intriguing and such an entertaining fixture. But a look at the clubs' games against each other during the last two seasons tells the story.

Arsenal have won only one of the three matches that they've played against Swansea since the Swans were promoted at the start of the 2011-12 season.

That came way back in September 2011 at the Emirates Stadium, with the Welsh side still getting used to life in the Premier League and Arsenal looking for vengeance after their infamous 8-2 shellacking at the hands of Manchester United.

Since then, it has been an entirely different story.

Almost a year ago, in the throes of an awful injury crisis, Swansea beat Arsenal by the score of 3-2 at home. But the Swans' one-goal margin of victory belied one of the greatest attacking performances of last season's Premier League.

On that day, one could legitimately compare Swansea to Barcelona, such was their ruthless pressing in all areas of the pitch, their crisp laser-like passing and their consistently intelligent movement.

Robin van Persie got an early goal that day and Theo Walcott bagged a flukey equalizer in the second half, but Arsenal were mercilessly run off the pitch.

The same outcome recurred when the two sides met on December 1st. The Gunners were never able to establish a foothold in the game, and two late Michu goals sunk the home side in embarrassing fashion.

Why does Swansea, a supposedly inferior team, dominate Arsenal so?

Put simply, they outplay the Gunners at their own game.

It is a bit of a cliche—and not an entirely true one, at that—but Arsenal are a bit like Barcelona-lite. They attempt to beat an opponent not with long balls, but with measured buildup engineered by technically gifted players that actively press to win the ball back.

Swansea play that style too. Bred under Brendan Rodgers and nurtured this season under Michael Laudrup, the Swans never stop pressing to win the ball back when they've lost it, and tend to keep it for the majority of matches.

Though they do not have the sorts of names in their squad that Arsenal do, a cheaply assembled, often vastly underrated cast of characters can do all the dirty work with the flair of a Champions League side when it's their day.

Regarding team news, both sides are relatively clean. Both sides might choose to rest tired legs, but there are no new injury concerns for either side.

Arsenal have Abou Diaby and Andre Santos returning to training, but it's likely that neither will be match-fit by game time on Sunday. Lukasz Fabianski is a long-term absentee and Vito Mannone is sick, so Damian Martinez will likely deputize for Wojciech Szczesny.

It's always difficult to project lineups for cup ties, especially when each club has multiple other matches before and after.

Some managers feel that this could be their year to have a go at a trophy, while others need to focus all their resources on the Premier League, leaving no excuses for not taking as many points as possible.

To be relatively safe, we'll assume that both Arsene Wenger and Michael Laudrup will make some moderate changes to their teams that played on New Year's Day.

Here's how Swansea could line up: Michel Vorm; Chico, Ashley Williams, Dwight Tiendalli, Angel Rangel; Leon Britton, Kemy Agustien, Jonathan de Guzman; Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge, Michu.

And Arsenal's potential counter: Wojciech Szczesny; Carl Jenkinson, Per Mertesacker, Thomas Vermaelen, Kieran Gibbs; Mikel Arteta, Francis Coquelin, Tomas Rosicky; Lukas Podolski, Gervinho, Olivier Giroud.

For neutrals or fans of either club, this will be a tremendously exciting fixture if the last two matchups are any indication.

Remember that I will have live blog coverage of the game, starting nice and early at 8:00 am ET on Sunday.

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