Swansea City will be looking to bounce back this weekend as they take on Chris Wilder's Middlesbrough at the Riverside.

They suffered a 3-2 defeat to current strugglers Reading in their last Championship match, scoring early on through Jamie Paterson but being pegged back a minute later through Tom Dele-Bashiru.

Pulling the game back to 2-2 through Ryan Manning's wonder strike, they fell behind again straight after as Danny Drinkwater struck to seal all three points for the Royals, consigning Russell Martin's men to a gut-wrenching defeat in a game they arguably should have won on paper.

 

 

One positive they can take from that game though is the fact they dominated for large spells - but will want to tighten up their defence against a side that scored two two-half goals last weekend to take a much-needed victory away at Huddersfield Town.

Wilder's men may have only won four points from a possible nine during the ex-Sheffield United manager's reign so far - but have already shown signs they are adapting well to the 54-year-old's system and will take great encouragement from that going into tomorrow afternoon's meeting with another potential play-off chaser.

With all eyes on the Swans though after last weekend's setback, we take a look at how they could line up ahead of their latest second-tier clash.

It never became clear what happened near the tunnel at full-time last week, but Ben Hamer was clearly upset about something.

He needs to get his head back into the game for this match after putting that behind him, because he's likely to be tested regularly on away soil. Boro's Watmore is one to keep an eye on after scoring twice against Huddersfield.

Ben Cabango comes back into the starting lineup as the Swans' only change in defence, replacing Rhys Williams as he returns alongside Kyle Naughton and Ryan Bennett.

It's perhaps harsh to take the Liverpool loanee out of the lineup considering he needs time to adapt to playing regularly again after being left out in the cold for much of his spell in South Wales so far, but he didn't perform well enough to keep his spot and a revitalised Cabango can only be a big boost to their defence.

Ryan Manning retains his place at the expense of Jake Bidwell after making such an impact at Barnsley and scoring a screamer in his last match, with Ethan Laird lining up on the other side as he gets a second chance.

His lack of awareness arguably played a big part in Dele-Bashiru's equaliser, but it wasn't just him who underperformed.

Korey Smith is one man who does drop out though as Flynn Downes comes back into the first 11 to partner captain Matt Grimes. Smith provided an inch-perfect pass for Paterson's opener, but he wasn't threatening enough in the final third after that.

Olivier Ntcham plays alongside 29-year-old Paterson in a more advanced position, with the former always likely to cause problems in the attacking third and the latter taking his league goal contributions tally for the season to 12 in his last outing.

And up top, it has to be Joel Piroe again. The Dutchman was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet last weekend, being judged to have strayed just offside in the first half as he tucked the ball home from a cross.

It wouldn't be a surprise to see him in and amongst the goals again on Teesside though.