Swansea City remain within a point of leaders West Brom as they approach another crucial set of fixtures in the Championship. But why is the rest of the month so important to Steve Cooper’s Swansea?

Swansea got off to an unprecedented flyer under their new manager Steve Cooper this season. Winning five of their opening six, they were the early leaders of the pack but have since dropped off.

After a run of one win in five league matches, Swansea have dropped down to fourth in the Championship but remain within touching distance of West Brom in first.

Their last outing at home to Swansea was probably their worst so far. A 2-1 loss at home to bottom-club Stoke City gave them their first win of the season, but showed how varying Swansea have been in the opening 11 games.

The international break came at a vital time for Swansea, who will have used to two week lay-off to assess where they’ve been going wrong, and how they can do right again.

A 2-1 win at Charlton Athletic preceded the Stoke loss, leaving Cooper’s points tally at three from a possible six for October.

The remainder of October sees Swansea travel to Barnsley this weekend, before they host Brentford and then Cardiff City in the first Welsh derby of the season.

Swansea’s trip to Oakwell this weekend will be a must-win for Cooper - Barnsley are second-bottom in the Championship and without a win since the opening day of the season.

Brentford are another club who’ve not lived up to expectations this season. Thomas Frank’s team sit 17th in the Championship, four points off of the drop zone.

They’ll be no pushovers when they visit South Wales later this month and given their slight resurgence in form of late, it’ll be an even tougher task for Cooper’s team.

Then there’s Cardiff. Neil Warnock’s side have slowly made their way up the table after a slow start, and found themselves in the top-half of the Championship in time for the international break.

A big win in this game at the end of the month would give everyone at the club a huge confidence boost going into the New Year.

Cooper in his first Welsh derby faces the experienced warhead that is Warnock, who’s side will make the short trip to Swansea having mustered just three points on the road all season.

Swansea will see this months remaining three fixtures as imperative, and they may well look back on their season and see them as either the fixtures that took them up, or the ones that threw them out of contention.

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