Monday night football returns this week and it sees Liverpool cross the Welsh border to meet a Swansea side who are in big trouble, they face serious danger of losing their Premier League status as they are currently bottom, six points adrift of safety. Liverpool are hanging onto the final Champions League place at the moment in fourth but are looking up the table instead of down.

STATS

• Swansea are in a very poor state this term but they have picked up four points in their last three games, not a bad return for a side staring down the barrel. However, with just one win in the 12 league matches prior to that, it is easy to see why this is the case. They drew 1-1 away at Newcastle in their last game which was disappointing after they took the lead.
• Liverpool are currently enjoying a bit of a purple patch and are on of a run 14 league matches unbeaten as well as winning four on the bounce. They picked up a huge 4-3 victory over Manchester City in their last game, who hadn’t been beaten in the league this season. Despite selling Phillipe Coutinho, Jürgen Klopp’s side aren’t lacking in quality attacking play and that was on display at Anfield against the Citizens.
• Swansea have struggled for goals this season but their two strikers, Tammy Abraham and Jordan Ayew, aren’t doing too badly with four goals each.
• Mohamed Salah is in blistering form since his move from Roma and he has been directly involved in more top-flight goals than any other player with 18 goals and 6 assists.

HEAD TO HEAD

Swansea don’t have a bad record against Liverpool in the last few years and in the last four meetings between the sides, the Swans have won two while the Reds have also won two. Although, the last fixture between them, on Boxing Day, was a rout as Liverpool battered Swansea. The watching crowd at Anfield witnessed a 5-0 win after watching Swansea beat Liverpool 3-2 at the same location almost exactly a year ago. There have been 17 goals in the last four matches between these two sides, it’s a fixture that tends to produce goals.

SWANSEA NEWS

An unlikely win for Swansea in this one wouldn’t see them move off the bottom of the table but it would see them close the gap on the 17^th-placed Stoke to just three points. Angel Rangel and Tammy Abraham are both facing late fitness tests to see if they are fit enough to feature while Mike Van Der Hoorn and Renato Sanches have been ruled out.

Latest matches: Swansea City

17.01.2018	FA C	Swansea City	Wolverhampton Wanderers	2:1	W
13.01.2018	Prem	Newcastle United	Swansea City	1:1	D
06.01.2018	FA C	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Swansea City	0:0	D
02.01.2018	Prem	Swansea City	Tottenham Hotspur	0:2	L
30.12.2017	Prem	Watford FC	Swansea City	1:2	W

LIVERPOOL NEWS

Three points and a repeat of Boxing Day’s scoreline would take Liverpool 3^rd but a slight win would keep them 4^th level on points with Chelsea. Mo Salah, Dejan Lovren and Ragnar Klavan are to undertake last fitness tests, Virgil Van Dijk, Jordan Henderson and Daniel Sturridge won’t be rushed back. Nathaniel Clyne is expected to be sidelined for another few weeks.

Latest matches: Liverpool FC

14.01.2018	Prem	Liverpool FC	Manchester City	4:3	W
05.01.2018	FA C	Liverpool FC	Everton FC	2:1	W
01.01.2018	Prem	Burnley FC	Liverpool FC	1:2	W
30.12.2017	Prem	Liverpool FC	Leicester City	2:1	W
26.12.2017	Prem	Liverpool FC	Swansea City	5:0	W

SUMMARY

There is absolutely no doubt that Liverpool are strong favourites for three points against a Swansea side who won’t be expecting anything other than a big loss in this one. The Reds’ defensive frailties will give Swansea confidence of getting something out of this game but their attack will be far too strong for the Welsh side to cope with.