Hughton expecting different Swansea test

Norwich City manager Chris Hughton is expecting a different Swansea City on Saturday compared to the one he watched draw at Arsenal.

Garry Monk’s men snatched a late 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium in midweek through Mathieu Flamini’s last-minute own goal, and Hughton was impressed with what he saw.

However, he says he is expecting to face a Swansea side set up in a slightly different way when the two meet at the Liberty Stadium at the weekend, with both sides searching for the win that would take them further clear of the relegation zone.

“They played very well, but it’s very difficult because you can’t be as expansive as you’d like to be because you’re up against a Champions League team,” Hughton said.

“We would expect them to pay a bit differently, a bit more expansively, as they normally do at home.

“They have goals in the team, especially in Wilfried Bony, who’s scoring a lot of goals for them so we’re expecting a very tough game.”

In contrast to a strong home record, Norwich have struggled on their travels this season, losing their last five outings away from Carrow Road.

They are without a Premier League victory on the road since a 2-0 success at West Brom in early December, and Hughton knows that a greater return away from home will help ease the pressure on his side.

“It’s been difficult for us away from Carrow Road,” he said.

“We’re part of a group of teams who generally do find it more difficult away from home but we need to alleviate the pressure on ourselves on having to win our home games, and they only way to do that is by picking up points away from home.”