Swansea City are a team very much on the up. Having finished tenth in last season’s Championship with 63 points, the Welsh side currently sit on 53 points with nine games remaining. Yes, the Swans are 11th, but they are just three points behind Preston in sixth – a gap that can be easily overcome.

The Swans are currently priced at 14/5 with US online casino sites to make the top six and 44/5 to earn promotion – the Swans are definitely a good value bet if you fancy a flutter.

But, promotion is far from a pipedream and that is all down to Steve Cooper and the subtle changes that he has made since joining in June 2019.

Aggressive and composed

For the past decade or so, Swansea City have prided themselves on discipline – that may well seem like a positive attribute, but for far too long they have been considered ‘too nice’. The Swans finished top of the Premier League’s fair play league twice and in the top three two other times. Even under previous boss Graham Potter, the Swans accrued just 45 yellow cards and one red in 51 games with an average of less than nine fouls per game.

It may well be an impressive statistic, but it didn’t exactly help the Welsh club get near the Premier League. Potter ensured his side played expansive football, but what good is that when that side were easily bullied?

The same cannot be said of the approach taken by Cooper since swapping the England Under-17 side for Swansea back in the summer of 2019. Swansea, though still occupying the upper echelons of the Championship’s fair play league, have already picked up 11 more yellow cards than last season with nine games still left to play.

That is, in fact, the club’s joint greatest total of yellows since Portuguese livewire Paulo Sousa held the reins and the first time since the 2014-15 season that the Welsh side have been awarded more than one red card in one season.

A greater points difference

Whilst far from the Crazy Gang of the 1980s and 1990s Wimbledon FC side, the increasing willingness to stick the boot in and win challenges has certainly given this Swansea side a new dimension. In fact, the Swans are now six points better off than at the same point last year with fewer goals conceded.

Discipline is an important asset to possess for any sporting side, and there is nothing worse than fearing a red card every time your players take to the field. But, softness is also a major problem as has often been Swansea’s case in recent seasons. There needs to be a middle ground and Cooper looks to have found it.

A balanced side

It’s no surprise that Cooper has earned plaudits for the way his side are organised – you could see that when he led the England Under-17s to World Cup glory in 2017. Bravery on the ball and confident passing are other important facets of Cooper’s style of play and it appears as though this Swansea side are ready to take it to the next level.

However, even the most passionate Swansea supporter will know that odds of 28/1 on platforms like https://www.johnnykash.com/en/  to finish as Championship winner are perhaps worth avoiding, especially when considering that first-placed Leeds are currently 18 points in front of them.