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Swansea City will make its european debut today, this is a game long awaited by the club and the fans. The welsh team is highly motivated for this Europa League campaign and they want to go as far as possible. They face Malmo in the third qualifying leg, not the easiest opponent for sure.
Swansea reached Europa League due to winning the League Cup last season. The team is progressing year after year since their promotion in the Premier League and this season looks very promising for them. Laudrup remained coach, and they signed some quality footballers like Bony, Shevley or Amat, without selling anyone (except loans and released players). They invested over 20 million euros in transfers this summer.
Malmo is currently on second place in the Allsvenskan, they had a great season so far. They demolished Hibernian (Scotland) with a 9-0 aggregate in the previous round, but their form took a turn for the worst last week when they produced an abysmal display against Gefle, losing 2-0. Their coach was very angry with that result before this important game against Swansea. The visitors are a good team, but they aren`t even the best in Sweden and they are miles away from the level of today`s opponents.
It will be interesting to see how they match-up with Swansea, because they have a similar style of play. This is an advantage for the hosts, because quality is obviously on their side. Home court advantage is another big plus for Swansea today, Malmo plays poor away from home and the welsh are a traditionally strong home team.
An advantage for Malmo is that they are in the middle of the league, while Swansea is only in pre-season, but the welsh team has advanced beyond the final stages of training, they knew they were going to play this game and created a proper schedule. The welsh were impecable in friendlies, winning all their six games, conceding just 1 goal and scoring 26. They didn`t have tough opposition, but they did beat Reading 3-0 and some solid teams from the dutch second league. Sure, Malmo played competitive games and still holds an edge in this department, but it doesn`t look big enough to make a difference.
No team has notable injury worries, Malmo has 2-3 players who struggle for fitness and Laudrup`s only problem is that Chico Flores is doubtful. The dane (which actually seems almost obsessed with this Europa League campaign) will field the best possible eleven and it will be very hard for Malmo to cope with the offensive partnership of Michu and Bony.
I think Swansea just has too much for Malmo. This is a very solid, consistent and well balanced team, they have a great coach and with the new transfers they could even fight for the top 7 in the Premier League. It is very important that the welsh are consistent and well coached, they are not prone to upsets, and that is a big reason why I don`t see a surprise here. They are superior in every position on the pitch, they are focused and motivated. Malmo`s lone advantage is the fact that they have competitive matches under their belt, but that can`t be enough with all the arguments that favor Swansea. At least not in Wales.
There are really not enough premises for an upset here so I`m going with Swansea to win by two, but with a safety net in case of a one goal win. The odds are just great.
Pick: Swansea (-1 A.H.)
Odds: 1.89 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 8.01
Event date: 1 August
