Swansea v Tottenham: Team news, where to watch, referee, odds

Swansea v Tottenham Hotspur, FA Cup Quarter-Final

12:15, Saturday 17th March, Liberty Stadium

TV/Radio
The match kicks off the weekend FA Cup action and will be shown live on BT Sport 1. Radio coverage can be found at BBC Five Live, BBC London and TalkSport.

What’s At Stake?
A place in the FA Cup Semi-Final is at stake and should Spurs make it to the last four of the competition, then they will hold something of an advantage over their opponents.

With both semi-finals and the final scheduled to take place at Wembley, Tottenham would be able to play at their current ‘home’ stadium, where they have only lost two matches all season.

Team News
Harry Kane is definitely out for Spurs having picked up an ankle injury in the 4-1 win at Bournemouth last weekend. Like Kane, Dele Alli and Danny Rose were also substituted in that match with fitness issues and will be assessed before Saturday.

Ben Davies is likely to be selected ahead of Rose anyway, but if Alli is injured it could be a problem for a team already missing Kane’s goals. Heung-Min Son is likely to play as a striker again, after switching there to replace Kane and grabbing two goals, while Erik Lamela and Lucas Moura will compete for his vacated position on the flank.

Swansea suffered a major blow in their last game against Huddersfield, when their in-form forward Jordan Ayew was sent off. Ayew will now serve a three-match ban and joins the injured Wilfried Bony, Leroy Fer, Renato Sanches and Angel Rangel on the sidelines.

Form
Tottenham’s recent home defeat to Juventus is the sole loss in 19 games. Of those 19, a total of nine have been played away, with Spurs drawing five and winning four.

Swansea have only lost two of their 16 matches since Carlos Carvalhal took charge, but one of those defeats came at the hands of Tottenham.

Referee
Kevin Friend will officiate. The 46-year old is one of the less card-happy referees and has not sent a player off since September.

As it’s an FA Cup match, Friend will receive ‘help’ from VAR analysis, which will be provided by Stuart Atwell.

Betting
Spurs are 1.44 to win, with the draw at 4.25 and Swansea out at 8.00. It’s a pretty slim price for an away win when you consider that Tottenham have needed replays to overcome Notts County and Rochdale in the previous two rounds.

Instead back Son to continue his form having scored five goals in his last three games. Check out Bodog Sports offer for a generous price of 2.40.

History
Mauricio Pochettino’s side are unbeaten against Swansea this season, drawing at Wembley and winning 2-0 away at Swansea.

These results extended Tottenham’s unbeaten record against the Swans since their promotion to the Premier League, to 14 games. Spurs have won five and drawn two of the games that took place at the Liberty Stadium.