SWANS: ‘We need to do a lot of things right’: Matos braced for tight QPR test as Swansea look to bounce back

Swansea City go to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday (3pm) looking to bounce back from their first defeat in five games, and Vitor Matos expects “a really good game”.

The Swans lost 1-0 at home to West Ham last weekend, and Middlesbrough’s 5-1 win at Bolton on Friday night means the Swans go into the game second, two points behind.

They will be without Ronald, who is out with a hamstring injury.

QPR also need a response. A 3-0 defeat at fourth-placed Birmingham last time out ended a five-game unbeaten run, and they start the weekend just outside the play-off places on goal difference.

Matos on QPR: ‘really competitive at their stadium’

Matos says QPR are well organised in defence, have already used two different shapes this season, and are “really competitive at their stadium”.

“We expect a good game where we need to do a lot of things right, really be concentrated in every action of the game. I think it will be a game that will need, of course, the full game to be decided.”

‘Back to basics’ after the West Ham defeat

Matos said the players had responded “really well in terms of training”, with the whole squad together for a full week for the first time since the international break.

“We were not happy with the result. That’s clear because I think it’s a different sport when you win or you are not and that’s the winning mentality you want to as well have inside of the club.”

He wants more from his side in the final third. “We could have created much more chances of open play, more, let’s say, more aggressive in the last third, despite being dominant with the ball.”

Melker Widell, who spoke about the Premier League dream this week, says the defeat still showed how far the Swans have come.

“It’s easy to see it this year, since I was here last year as well, to compare it to when we played Coventry at home or Middlesbrough at home, which were the top teams at the time, and I think this year we had a lot more to say. We were more dominant on the ball,” he said.

Seven away wins in 11 since March

The Swans have been strong on the road. They have won six of their last eight league games away from home, and seven of 11 since March, with only two defeats.

Matos puts that down to belief. “More than anything was the way the players kept believing in the idea, kept believing in the way we train, kept believing in what we can do to improve ourselves.”

“Understand that the way we play can offer already a lot of good possibilities to win and different tools and that we need to agree on one of them. When we agree on one of them, we are really strong.”

A win at Loftus Road would give the Swans three away league wins in a row for the first time since October 2023.

QPR v Swansea City: the key stats

QPR have not beaten the Swans in seven home league games, drawing three and losing four, since a 4-0 win in April 2019.

The Swans have won three of the last four league meetings, as many as in the 11 before that.

QPR have won only one of their last seven league games, and could lose two in a row for the first time this season.

Expect a tight game. Swansea’s league games have produced 24 goals, 16 for and eight against, the fewest in the Championship. QPR’s have produced 27, the joint-third fewest.