Swansea City v Southampton: Koeman needs Wanyama to learn

Ronald Koeman wants Victor Wanyama to learn from his mistakes as Southampton prepare for a run of five matches without the suspended midfielder, starting away to Swansea City on Saturday.

Wanyama is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines after picking up his third red card of the Premier League season in a 1-0 win at home to West Ham last weekend.

The Kenya international has previously been sent off after committing two bookable offences away to Norwich last month and at home to Bournemouth in November.

Koeman was critical of Wanyama’s actions when he committed a rash challenge in the defeat to the Canaries.

And while the Dutch coach believes the former Celtic man was somewhat unfortunate to suffer another dismissal last time out, he is adamant the 24-year-old must adapt his game to avoid suffering repeated disciplinary issues. 

“I hope this time he will think about it and he will learn from this tackle [so that] next time – [he does not] take that risk,” Koeman told a news conference on Thursday.

Wanyama’s absence until the home match against Liverpool on March 19 will put Southampton’s recent run of strong form at risk.

The Saints are unbeaten in five games and have not conceded in that stretch, beating Watford, West Brom and West Ham at home, Manchester United away and managing a drawing at Arsenal to climb to seventh in the table.

History is against the next opponents who will attempt to breach the Southampton rear guard, given Swansea have failed to hit the back of the net in all three of their meetings with the south-coast club at the Liberty Stadium.

And it is in front of goal that Swansea coach Francesco Guidolin is keen to see the most improvement as the Welsh side, 16th and four points above the relegation zone, look to pull clear of trouble.

“I am happy at the moment… but we must be more clinical in order to win matches,” the Italian said. 

“We have to take each game as it comes at the moment and our concentration is on Southampton because that is the priority. 

“It will be a difficult game because they are a good team with good players and Ronald Koeman is an excellent manager. 

“But we have the chance to play well and to win the game so I am confident.” 

Guidolin, who has orchestrated one win and two draws since taking charge last month, could have Ki Sung-yueng available after the South Korea international suffered a concussion in a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace last weekend.

Steven Davis and Matt Targett are back for the Saints, having recovered from hamstring and ankle/foot issues respectively. 

The visitors are still without Florin Gardos (knee) and Jay Rodriguez (foot), although the latter, a one-cap England international forward, is close to resuming full training.

Key Opta stats:

-Southampton have scored a league-high 10 headed goals in the Premier League this season.
-Five of the 13 goals scored from direct free-kicks in the Premier League this season have been in matches involving Swansea City (38 per cent).
-Fraser Forster has kept five Premier League clean sheets in a row in 2015/16 since coming back from injury and he has saved all 14 of the shots he has faced in the competition this season.
-Forster’s clean sheet percentage is the best of any goalkeeper with 30 or more Premier League appearances (51.4 per cent), with 18 clean sheets from his 35 games.
-Gylfi Sigurdsson has scored five goals in his last six Premier League appearances for Swansea, the same number as he managed in his previous 33 appearances in the competition.