Brace yourselves for probably the biggest South Wales derby ever. Cardiff have a chance to make history by becoming the first team to do the double in this fixture.
There are a mixture of ingredients that make today's game compelling. The chance of the double, the chance for Cardiff to get back to back wins for the first time in the Premier League, Swansea sacked their manager this week with the club captain taking charge today, it's Ole's first welsh derby experience, the weather is set to be poor - the list goes on.
Just 3 points seperate Swansea in 12th and Cardiff in 19th, in fact Aston Villa - who Cardiff play on Tuesday are in the top half of the table and are just 6 points ahead of Cardiff. A couple of wins changes the complextion of the table.
This is what happened the last time Cardiff played at The Liberty.
Early team news
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could hand new signing Juan Cala an immediate debut as Cardiff face Swansea in Saturday's south Wales derby.
The Spaniard joined earlier this week after having his contract terminated by Sevilla, and could be preferred to defender Ben Turner, with club captain Mark Hudson nursing a hamstring injury.
Wilfried Zaha is set to make his first start having made a big impact off the bench in last weekend's win over Norwich.
Swansea interim head coach Garry Monk has decisions to make over three key players.
Goalkeeper Michel Vorm and forward Michu have returned to training this week, although a starting role for the Spaniard is highly unlikely, while Jonjo Shelvey's hamstring problem is being assessed.
Defender Chico Flores is set to be involved despite a recent training ground row with Monk, and the furore caused by his actions against West Ham last weekend.
The managers
Garry Monk
"In a derby I expect passion and pride.
"All I care about is that we put a performance on and whatever the result, the players can be proud, the crowd can be proud and we know that we've given our all. That's all I can ask for.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
“We are burning to create history and to repeat history.
We can make history by doing the double for the first time and repeat history by winning in Swansea as we did three years ago with that Craig Bellamy goal.
Match Appointments
Referee: Andre Marriner. Assistants: M Mullarkey, M Perry. Fourth Official: N Swarbrick.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
- This will be the first time Swansea have hosted Cardiff in the top flight.
- Victory would give Cardiff three successive league wins against Swansea for the first time in their history. It would also be the first time either side has won both league meetings during a single season.
Swansea City
- The Swans failed to register a single shot on target against West Ham last weekend - the first time they have done so in the Premier League since a 2-0 defeat by Arsenal on 16 March 2013.
- They have won one of their last 10 league games (D3, L6).
- Their tally of three home wins is the joint lowest in the top flight (along with five other clubs).
- Swansea have scored seven first-half goals in this season's Premier League. The only club with a lower total is Cardiff (five).
Cardiff City
- All five of Cardiff's league wins this season have been by a one-goal margin.
- Against Norwich last weekend, Craig Bellamy became the first player to score Premier League goals for seven different clubs.
- Victory against the Canaries ended the Bluebirds' seven-game winless run in the league (D1, L6).
Teams:
Swansea (from: Vorm, Amat, Taylor, Flores, Williams, Britton, Shelvey, Michu, Bony, Hernandez, Dyer, Cornell, Lamah, Routledge, Tiendalli, De Guzman, Rangel, Pozuelo, Tremmel, Vazquez, Richards, Ngog, Emnes.
Cardiff (from): Marshall, Taylor, Caulker, Turner, Whittingham, Medel, Jones, Campbell, Kim, Smith, Eikrem, Noone, Gunnarsson, Mutch, Cowie, McNaughton, Theophile-Catherine, Daehli, Lewis, Berget, Fabio, Zaha, Bellamy, Cala.