Swansea v St. Gallen: Swans to pass taxing Swiss challenge

Swansea welcome St. Gallen to the Liberty Stadium in their second match in Group A, and will expect to maintain their 100 per cent record.

Michael Laudrup’s men are 4/9 to follow up their impressive 3-0 victory away in Valencia with a win over the Swiss side.

St. Gallen are unbeaten in 12 games in all competitions – winning five of their last six – however that run would appear to be in jeopardy here, given the form of the home side and the visitors’ apparent lack of threat in front of goal.

In their nine Swiss Super League games this term they have found the net on just 11 occasions, making them extremely difficult to back at 6/1 here; their opening group game saw a home victory against the unheralded Kuban Krasnodar – the Swans should present a far sterner challenge.

While Swansea have lost their last two, one of those games saw them field a weakened side against Birmingham in the League Cup, and the other was a narrow defeat to an in-form Arsenal.

In addition, those concerned by the Swans home form – they have drawn once and lost twice in the league this season – can allay those fears on the grounds that their visitors to date have comprised of Manchester United, Liverpool and the aforementioned Gunners.

In qualifying for the group stages the Welsh side won 5-1 (Petrolul Ploieşti) and 4-0 (Malmo) in west Wales, and have kept clean sheets in three of their last six.

However, Jeff Saibene’s men have avoided conceding in three, so a low-scoring home win may be on the cards. A home win with under 2.5 goals at 31/10 looks a tantalising price, but one suspects it is largely dependent on the Swiss side being held goalless.

Yet with St. Gallen registering in five of their last six fixtures of more interest is the even money on offer for a home win with over 2.5 goals in the match.

Miguel Michu has found the net in three of his last four starts, and looks good value at 4/5 to register anytime (7/2 to score first). Summer signing Wilfried Bony leads the Swans goalscorers in the Europa League this term with four strikes, and is evens to net at any point here.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing

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