Swansea City travel to Blackburn Rovers tonight where a sixth victory in their last seven games would further strengthen their position in the Championship’s automatic promotion places. Head coach Steve Cooper is exceeding most expectations, a familiar achievement says Jack Hammett, but one which normally signals the attention of bigger clubs elsewhere.  Like hipsters talking about successful bands, Swansea City fans can also be smug about the managers who started their rise to success in the Liberty Stadium dug-out. “I knew them before they were big”, kind of thing.

Steve Cooper paid tribute to the consistency shown by Swansea City as they tightened their grip on second place in the Championship with a hugely impressive 2-0 victory at Barnsley. Ben Cabango and Jamal Lowe struck in either half at Oakwell as Cooper’s side made it six games unbeaten in all competitions.

New Swansea City signing Ben Hamer was allowed to leave Huddersfield in order for young goalkeeper Ryan Schofield to gain a contract, according to the Yorkshire club. Hamer has joined the Swans on an 18-month deal for an undisclosed fee and will provide back-up to Freddie Woodman for the promotion-chasers following a long-term injury to Steven Benda. Hamer, 33, had been first choice at Huddersfield at the start of the season, but lost his place to 21-year-old Schofield in November and the Tykes have suggested the older man was unlikely to win it back.

Steve Cooper has said “there’s a good player in there” about striker Viktor Gyokeres – but fans won’t be seeing him at Swansea City. The on-loan striker has been recalled by parent club Brighton after 12 appearances for the Swans in which he scored only once, in last week’s 2-0 FA Cup third round win at Stevenage. It was a modest return for a Premier League striker who joined Swansea last September, having scored seven goals in 19 starts the previous season, playing for St. Pauli in Bundesliga 2.

Jamal Lowe calls Andre Ayew “The King” at Swansea City, but insists the club’s African royalty has no hang-ups over who is wearing the scoring crown. Of the two strikers, it is indisputably Lowe who is the monarch of the penalty box at present with six goals in his last six matches. In the same period, Ayew has scored just once – in the away victory at QPR – but Lowe reckons defences like Barnsley’s, who the Swans face on Saturday – would be ill-advised to concentrate on just one or other of the pair who have scored 18 goals between them so far this season (eight for Lowe and 10 for Ayew).

Steve Cooper insists Wayne Routledge can carry on playing for Swansea City just as long as he likes. The Swans head coach paid tribute to Routledge as the evergreen winger helped see off Stevenage 2-0 in the FA Cup third round. Routledge featured in Premier League Newcastle’s humiliating 3-1 defeat in Hertfordshire 10 years and one day ago.

Morgan Gibbs-White would have been one of the best players in the Championship had he stayed at Swansea City. That’s the firm conviction of frustrated Swans head coach Steve Cooper, who was powerless to stop the Wolves midfielder being recalled by the Premier League club this week. Swansea had spent three months getting the England U21 international fit again following an early season fracture in his foot.

Jamal Lowe believes Swansea City will not be wiped from the 2021 automatic promotion race – even though former England goalkeeper Ben Foster might edit Lowe’s goal celebration from his next YouTube video. The Swans striker celebrated the first of his two goals against Watford at the weekend by running towards and then pointing directly into Foster’s GoPro camera, positioned in the back of the net. That’s where the ball had just nestled and where Lowe put it for a second time later as he secured a 2-1 victory that moved his team into second-place in the Championship.

Steve Cooper praised Jamal Lowe for his two goals, but was anxious to spread the love around his squad after Swansea City moved into the automatic promotion places. Lowe struck twice as the Swans climbed to second in the Championship with a 2-1 comeback victory over promotion rivals Watford. The red-hot Lowe made it six goals in as many games for Swansea to inflict a first defeat on new Watford manager Xisco Munoz, who had seen his side lead through Tom Cleverley.

Andre Ayew has claimed he should take the blame for Swansea City “drooping two points” at home to Reading. The Swans were held to a goalless draw on Wednesday night at the Liberty Stadium where their Ghanaian striker felt he failed to bury either of two great chances. Swansea had 32 touches in the reading penalty box, and Ayew had five attempts on goal, but two headers in particular could have won the game for the home side.

Steve Cooper has admitted he is becoming boring, but makes no apologies for his one-game-at-a-time strategy at Swansea City. The Swans head coach sends his team out for the first time on the newly installed Liberty Stadium pitch against Reading this evening, knowing that a third successive victory would consolidate their current position in the Championship’s automatic promotion places. Cooper’s team have won back-to-back fixtures against Barnsley and QPR, but he insists he is not looking further ahead into 2021 as the play their final match of a very strange 2020.

Marc Guehi believes there are no secrets to Swansea City’s extraordinary defensive record this season – just hard work, strength in depth and experience. The Swans kept another clean sheet on Boxing Day as they won 2-0 at Queens Park Rangers to move into second place in the Championship. It was their 12th shutout of the season – more than any other club in all four divisions and their tally of just 12 goals conceded in 21 matches is also the best in the EFL and Premier League, along with Manchester City who have played seven games fewer.