Swansea V West Brom at Liberty Stadium - Match Preview



Mystery bug sidelines Graham

Swansea striker Danny Graham will miss Wednesday's clash with West Brom as he continues to battle the illness that has kept him out of training for over a week.

The ex-Watford forward has been unable to train since Swansea's 2-1 win over Newcastle, and was not in the matchday squad for Sunday's draw with Liverpool.

Swans manager Michael Laudrup has confirmed the 27-year-old will also miss out against the Baggies after failing to recover from an illness that also affected some of his team-mates.

The forward's inability to train means he is also unlikely to be involved in Saturday's trip to face Arsenal, and Laudrup said: "He is not available.

"We really don't know (what it is). He has been sick for nearly a week now, he doesn't feel well and he has been feeling dizzy.

"We have had three or four players with that, but they are all back in training, but Danny is still ill so he is ruled out for the game."

Luke Moore, one of those to suffer with the illness, is back in contention against one of his former clubs, but Jonathan de Guzman is a doubt.

The Swans' goalless draw with Liverpool moved them up to ninth in the table, but Wednesday's opponents continued their superb start to the season with a 4-2 win at Sunderland.

Steve Clarke's side have been the surprise package of the season to date and have claimed the scalps of Chelsea and Liverpool along the way.

But Swansea have lost just once at home so far this season, and Laudrup hopes they can keep that run going and move themselves onto a tally of 20 points, and halfway to reaching the oft-stated survival total of 40, before the end of November.

He said: "We know it is going to be difficult but we will go out and play like we always do. We are confident as well, we have only lost one game at home and we don't want to lose any more.

"We know we have to be strong at home and get most of our points here."

West Brom boss Steve Clarke has received messages of support from Jose Mourinho but insists he is his own person when it comes to management.

Clarke worked as number two to Mourinho and Avram Grant at Chelsea and had spells under Ruud Gullit and Sir Bobby Robson (Newcastle), Gianfranco Zola (West Ham) and Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool). He received a text from Real Madrid supremo Mourinho ahead of Saturday's 4-2 win at Sunderland offering encouragement after Albion's flying start to the Barclays Premier League season.

But Clarke has been determined to do things his way since taking charge at the Hawthorns in the summer.

He said: "Jose sent me a little text before the game at the weekend. It was a nice text.

"There were some good things in it although it's private between me and Jose. But it was about encouragement and just to keep going and to keep working.

"Did I give Mourinho any advice? The text was sent before his defeat at the weekend. I didn't. It's not for me to give Jose advice. He is (was) my boss. But I do just try and be myself on the training ground and in the press conferences.

"I always said when I took the job, although I've worked with a number of top coaches, I would just be myself. As you can tell, I'm quite a level-headed person and I try and convey that to the players as well."

Source: PA

Source: PA