Swansea will look for nothing short of three points when they come up against bottom of the table Southampton at St Mary's in Saturday's English Premier League game.
Swansea played out a solid 1-1 draw against Chelsea last weekend, and manager Michael Laudrup will be keen to see his side get into the top half of the table. The Welsh side currently lie in 11th with 12 points from ten matches.
"The points on Saturday are far more important than they were against Chelsea," Laudrup told reporters during his pre-match press conference. "My players know it's a big game.
"You don't need to be a rocket scientist to realise that the bottom three teams really need points. If they don't then the gap will become even wider.
"Southampton really need points, as do QPR and Reading, so we know what to expect. It's an away game, they will want to put us under pressure and if we are not at the level that we have been recently, then we will have big problems.
"We have to make sure we are at our best -- both with and without the ball."
Laudrup acknowledged Southampton had been a little unlucky not to pick up a few more points, with the Saints throwing away leads in games earlier in the season. "They have scored a lot, but also conceded some goals," Laudrup said. "I saw them play a couple of times at the beginning of the season and they deserved more points than they got, particularly against Manchester United at home when they lost 3-2.
"We want to win the game on Saturday, but they need to win. However, we know that it will be a completely different game."
Southampton have picked up just a win and a draw in ten matches so far, and manager Nigel Adkins hopes a change in routine might help his side find the winning mentality needed to survive in the Premier League.
"We've got players coming back to fitness and we're going to take the guys away for a couple of days in preparation," Adkins told reporters.
"We'll change things around a little bit and change the stimulus, which I think is important because it can become a bit of a 'Groundhog Day.'
"We've reached ten games and we were always going to look to have a break by changing the environment and the mindset so we are focused for the next game.
"I think it's good to change the routine, and take that into this weekend's important game.
"We've got to start getting points on the board and having the winning mentality that we've had for the last few years at the football club. "We've just had ten games, so we've assessed where we are and accepted the situation. We'll keep moving forward."
Both Swansea and Southampton have no new injury concerns, with the Saints welcoming back Jack Cork, who played the entire 90 minutes in the under-21 game against Sunderland earlier this week. Goalkeeper Artur Boruc is also available for selection.
To watch Southampton vs Swansea Live Stream, click here.
Expected lineups: Southampton: Boruc; Clyne, Fonte, Yashida, Fox; Schneiderlin, Davis; Ramirez, Lallana, Rodriguez; Lambert.
Swansea: Tremmel; Rangel, Monk, Williams, Davies; Britton, Ki, De Guzman, Routledge, Hernandez; Michu.
Prediction: 2-1 to Southampton
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