Laudrup admits pressure is on Swansea (From The Argus)

Laudrup admits pressure is on Swansea

9:00am Tuesday 25th September 2012 in Sport

Michael Laudrup admits the pressure will be on his Swansea side as they bid to return to winning ways at Crawley tonight.

The Swans head to the Broadfield Stadium in the Capital One cup on the back of consecutive Premier League defeats to Aston Villa and Everton.

Saturday's 3-0 home reverse against the Toffees was their heaviest home defeat in the Premier League as the hosts turned in a poor performance that sapped the momentum taken from victories over QPR and West Ham.

Facing Crawley offers a chance to turn things around before the trip to Stoke at the weekend, and Laudrup wants to see a morale-boosting win.

Laudrup said: "We want to get that winning feeling back because you go from everything being perfect by winning two games and getting a draw where we played very well, and then suddenly you lose two games. You have to be careful this run does not extend.

"We don't want to lose three games and then it's four games since we last won. Football turns quickly and that's why we need to get back on the winning track as soon as possible.''

But the Dane knows if his side are to advance to the fourth round they need to handle the mantle of being favourites against lower league opposition, and admits Premier League teams have more to lose than gain in such fixtures.

"It's not a very good game to play," he said. "When you play a League One team everyone expects you to win because you are Swansea and you play in the Premier League.

"You have much more to lose. It puts pressure on everybody.

"The players can't consider that this is just the Capital One Cup and not the Premier League. Everyone knows the Premier League is the daily bread but we want to go as far as possible in the cup."

Laudrup is likely to hand some of Swansea's youngsters a chance to impress as niggling injuries and suspensions impact upon on his squad.

Ashley Williams, Jonathan de Guzman, Leon Britton and Danny Graham all featured against Everton despite various ailments, and may be handed a rest.

Chico Flores serves the final game of a three-match suspension, while Nathan Dyer is ruled out by his red card against Everton.

Pablo Hernandez is doubtful with a knee injury while Itay Shechter is unavailable as he observes the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

Laudrup said: "I want to win but it's true that we have players who have already been out that came back on Saturday like Ashley and Jonathan. These players probably won't play on Tuesday.

"Dyer is banned, it is Chico's last game of his ban and Kemy (Agustien) is still out.

"But we will make a list and the rest will come from the Under-21 team. We are talking about the future and they will get the opportunity to show what they can do in these games. But I want to win this game."

Read our two page preview of tonight's big cup match in The Argus today