So, to kick off February, get your cup of coffee ready and enjoy my weekly round-up!
Southampton vs Swansea City (4pm today)
For a change, I can't start this blog with an angry reaction about the match just gone because Swansea don't play their weekend Premier League fixture until 4pm this afternoon. Rest assured we'll probably see the Swans take an early lead, before two of them are sent off, leading to a 6-1 defeat.
In all fairness Swansea are without an array of key players at the moment including Sigurdsson, Ki and - let's admit it - a gifted striker, so it'll be tough to get much of a result at St Mary's against a team who are excelling again this season.
I'm expecting a loss for Swansea... perhaps 2-0. I'm usually wrong, so we could see a nice draw instead. And with the talent left in the team, there's no real reason why a 0-0 draw couldn't be on the cards.
Jack Cork... finally
One of Garry Monk's final January transfer window signings was Southampton midfielder Jack Cork - a player who has been linked with Swansea for a couple of years now. Cork was officially unveiled on Friday night for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in the area of £3million.
Cork is a holding midfielder, who has played around 110 times for the Saints since 2011. He's not a goalscorer, but seems to have been drafted in to play in alongside Ki/Britton/Carroll in a defensive midfield role.
Of course, the name Cork may be familiar to older Swans fans who will remember his father Alan, who briefly managed the club from October 1997 until the end of the season.
He comes to Swansea looking for more games, but with an already healthy midfield, will he find them? I'm guessing that yes, he will. But that begs the question: who will make way for him?
Filthy little Swans
It seems Swansea are the naughtiest boys in the Premier League! However we all know that this truly isn't the case. Most of the red cards have been second yellows (for silly little occurrences) or pretty questionable straight reds.
Of course there's rarely smoke without fire and sometimes a red card is justified. But when it comes to Swansea - who we know are not a dirty team - something is not quite right.
Garry Monk summed it up best when he said earlier in the week:
"We make one of the least amount of fouls in the division, have one of the lowest yellow card counts and yet one of the most fouled against. It really doesn’t add up."
Ki returns to Swansea
Ki Sung Yueng is on his way back to South Wales following his Asian Cup campaign with South Korea. And what a cup he had, captaining his country through the competition right up until yesterday's final against Australia.
Unfortunately for Ki, South Korea finished runners-up as the Aussies made history by winning their first ever Asian Cup competition, in a 2-1 final.
His big midfield presence had certainly been missed over the past month or so, and he'll be a very welcome addition to the team next week, hopefully ready in time to take on his former team Sunderland at the Liberty Stadium.
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