By David Williams
Matt Grimes insists Swansea City are ready to pen the great unwritten chapter in Welsh derby history.
Famously, neither Swansea nor Cardiff City have ever managed a league double over the other in the same season.
That’s a sequence of evenhandedness that goes all the way back to the first south Wales derby in the old Division Two of the 1929/30 season. Today, at the Liberty Stadium, will be their 60th league meeting.
But Cardiff have to make the 40-mile trip down the M4 this time and will go knowing the 2-0 triumph recorded by the high-flying Swans in the first meeting in December has set them up for a shot at the double.
“There is a little piece of history we want to be on the right side of this weekend. It’s glaringly obvious that we are in a good position to do it given the fact we won in Cardiff,” said Grimes.
“We are positive, confident and in a good position in the league. It feels there is no better time to give it a go and a couple of moments of quality could make the difference.
“This fixture stands by itself because of the importance and meaning it has to everyone in Swansea, although there is a bigger picture we are looking at in terms of winning promotion.
“We are hoping to take a Welsh team back into the Premier league, which would be great for the city and the nation.”
Grimes’ side currently sit in third place in the table and are shooting for automatic promotion back to the Premier League, while Mick McCarthy’s Cardiff team are trying to get back into the play-off places having lost only once since he took over 14 games ago.
It will be McCarthy’s first taste of the south Wales derby, but in a career that spans more than 1,000 games as a manager, and more than 500 as a player, he has experienced the white hot atmosphere of big rivalries before.
“I’ve had a few derbies in the past – Man City v Man United, Newcastle v Sunderland, Millwall and West Ham,” said McCarthy, who also played for Celtic against Rangers and managed Ipswich against Norwich.
“I’ve had some big derbies, but this is our big derby, our big game. This is the one that matters to everybody in Wales and I’m looking forward to it.
“I just wish there were fans in because this is our biggest game. Ipswich and Norwich are two lovely places and then they clash and all hell is let loose.
“I’m told it will be pretty much the same as Swansea v Cardiff this weekend.”
Swansea’s 20-year-old Cardiff-born defender Ben Cabango will go into the game against his home city team having signed a new contract this week and will have to mark his Wales team mate Kieffer Moore in one of the key battles in a game that both sides need to win.
“If we can win, we are back on the coattails of the play-offs and that’s where we want to be,” McCarthy added.
“And in case of Swansea they will be looking at automatic promotion so it’s an important game for both of us.”