Michael Obafemi starts: The predicted Swansea City XI to play West Brom tonight

Swansea City will be hoping to erase the memory of their 4-0 defeat against Sheffield United with a positive performance against West Bromwich Albion this evening.

The Baggies have dropped like a lead balloon since the turn of the year and have taken just one point from a possible 12 since Steve Bruce replaced Valerien Ismael at the helm.

It has been a gradual adaptation process for Russell Martin at Swansea this season and, with games in hand on their side, they will be confident of a late rally taking them towards a top half finish.

Hannes Wolf and Kyle Naughton are back and available for selection at The Hawthorns, while Nathanael Ogbeta remains sidelined.

Here, we are predicting three changes from the side who were hammered by the Blades to take on Bruce’s Baggies…

Ogbeta will be a frustrating omission for Martin, the 20-year-old is yet to make his Swans debut and his absence means that a makeshift left wing back will be put in place.

Be it, Ryan Manning, Joel Latibeaudiere or Wolf, none of them have looked perfectly suited to the position that Ogbeta will arrive as a specialist in.

The three alterations are as follows: Naughton replace Fin Burns, Wolf comes in for Latibeaudiere and Michael Obafemi steps in for Jamie Paterson in the final third.

Joel Piroe seems to be growing into a deeper role with more freedom behind a central striker, and Obafemi’s physicality and running in behind should create space for the Dutchman and potentially Olivier Ntcham to cause problems.

Paterson may be a surprise absentee but with results being so up and down, Martin may see fit to hold Paterson back until some positivity is generated on the pitch, following a difficult January transfer window for the 30-year-old.

Source