Swansea City captain Matt Grimes has urged the club’s fans to stick with their sliding team tonight (Wed), ahead of their home match against Blackburn Rovers.
The Swans have dropped from top spot in the Championship to 11th place on the back of form that has brought just three victories in their last 15 matches.
That sequence hit a new low point last Sunday when they were thrashed 5-1 at West Brom, the heaviest defeat of the season and a performance manager Steve Cooper branded “naïve”.
Grimes inisists, however, that if the club holds together, the rock bottom display at The Hawthorns can be a springboard to revive their flagging promotion challenge.
“We’re going through a difficult period at the moment, but we must stick together – players, staff and fans,” said Grimes.
“As a club, we must pull together through the bad times as well as the good.
“We need each other more than ever to get ourselves out of this dip. Anything can change in football. If we get two or three wins on the bounce, we’ll be right back up there. That’s what we must look to do.”
After a 14-game unbeaten run at home in the Championship (W10 D4), Swansea have lost five of their last seven at the Liberty Stadium (W1 D1).
In contrast, Blackburn have won their last four Championship matches – they’ve not won five in a row in the second tier or higher since a run of six in November 2000.
Winger Wayne Routledge is a doubt for the Swans.The 34-year-old has not played since damaging a calf in the 1-0 home defeat by Millwall last month, but, if he does not make it, could be available for Saturday’s game against Middlesbrough.
Defender Declan John is set to sit out both fixtures with a hamstring strain sustained in training ahead of last Sunday’s 5-1 defeat at West Brom.
Kristoffer Peterson was replaced at half-time at The Hawthorns, but Cooper has confirmed that was a tactical decision and the striker is available for selection.
Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray has hinted he could rest experienced duo Stewart Downing and Danny Graham for the first of two away games in four days.
Midfielder Downing, 35, and 34-year-old striker Graham have been part of an unchanged side in the last three fixtures, but Mowbray is not convinced the pair can manage three games in a week.
Elliott Bennett and Sam Gallagher could deputise at the Liberty Stadium, while Lewis Holtby, John Buckley and Bradley Johnson are pushing for starts.
Twenty-year-old midfielder Joe Rankin-Costello, who is yet to make a league appearance, has been included in a 20-man travelling party.