After last weekend's 1-0 South Wales Derby victory against Cardiff, 4th placed Swansea City are looking to continue the momentum against their next opponents, Wigan Athletic.

Steve Cooper's side had been on mini-slump prior to the match against their Welsh rivals, as they came into the derby with no wins in three games.

Luckily for Cooper and his side, the fears of that run extending further have now been quelled in the best possible fashion.

The Swans will want to reclaim their place in the automatic promotion spots, where they have resided for the majority of the campaign so far.

Key players have been integral to Swansea's positive start to the season, such as Borja Baston, Andre Ayew and Mike van der Hoorn.

One player that has gone under the radar though is defensive midfielder and club captain Matt Grimes, who is another in a long line of successful graduates from the Exeter City academy - including Ethan Ampadu and Ollie Watkins, but to name a few.

The 24-year-old made the switch to South Wales in 2014, with Swansea comfortable in their Premier League surroundings at that time.

Despite making his debut for the Swans that season, Grimes had to see through a series of loans to clubs in the EFL in the following years.

He spent time at Blackburn Rovers and Leeds United, with the spell spent at Elland Road proving detrimental, as there are claims that Grimes fell out of love with the game while in Yorkshire.

Third tier Northampton Town was his next temporary destination, which was the most productive out of the three loan moves. Grimes made 44 appearances for the Cobblers in 2017-18, as they were unable to avoid relegation from League One.

That spell at Sixfields was the springboard that Grimes was looking for, as he would nail down a starting spot for Swansea under Graham Potter the following term.

Fast forward to this season, Grimes has been a key cog in the Swansea machine under Steve Cooper in 2019-20, nailing down the defensive midfielder role, usually alongside Jay Fulton in a 4-2-3-1 shape.

A key reason why Swansea took the bragging rights against Cardiff was Grimes - a second Man of the Match performance of the season from the skipper helped to keep the Bluebirds at bay, with Grimes running the midfield.

Looking at WhoScored, we can see that Grimes averages 2.4 tackles per game, along with 1.4 interceptions. With a passing success rate just shy of 85%, and 2.2 key passes per game, the Exeter-born midfielder also contributes towards the attacking phase.

So far Grimes has repaid the faith in Cooper for handing him the captaincy, and the Swans boss will be hoping that he continues to be vindicated by the decision he made in preseason.