Blackpool v Swansea City: Team news, match updates and reaction

Jordan Thorniley is a major doubt with the neck/shoulder spasm he suffered in the win at Stoke City last week.

Speaking yesterday morning, Neil Critchley revealed a decision had yet been made on whether the defender (above) would be included in Blackpool’s squad.

Critchley very rarely risks a player unnecessarily, so it would be a surprise to see Thorniley named in Pool’s starting line-up.

That leaves the door open for Ollie Casey to start, or perhaps a return from James Husband who is now in contention following his recovery from a hamstring injury.

Elsewhere, Chris Maxwell (quad) and Keshi Anderson (hamstring) have done a bit of work in training, while Richard Keogh (calf) and Luke Garbutt (knee) have been back on the grass, to coin Critchley’s favourite phrase.

Matty Virtue (ACL), Grant Ward (achilles) and Sonny Carey (metatarsal) all remain sidelined.

Swansea, meanwhile, will be without Ryan Manning through suspension following his red card in the 5-1 defeat to Fulham.

Nathanael Ogbeta, Hannes Wolf, Flynn Downes and Cyrus Christie are all back available though.

Neil Critchley’s side will be looking to continue their recent good form and claim a third straight win.

With 11 games left of the season, the Seasiders currently sit in 14th, nine points adrift of the Championship play-offs.

If Pool are going to launch a late challenge for the top six, they’re going to have to make the most of their next three games, which all come at home.

Up first is a Swansea side that have endured an underwhelming campaign under Russell Martin. The South Wales outfit were thrashed 5-1 by league leaders Fulham in midweek, leaving them in 16th and four points adrift of the Seasiders.

Keshi Anderson’s late goal rescued a point for Blackpool during a 1-1 draw against the Swans at the Liberty Stadium back in November.

Today’s referee is Stephen Martin, who has overseen Blackpool’s games against Bournemouth, Barnsley and Middlesbrough this season.

And welcome to today’s live blog.

If Blackpool are going to launch a late challenge for the Championship play-offs, they’re going to have to get their skates on and build on their current run, which has seem them win their last two.

But today they face a Swansea side that will be hurting from their midweek thrashing against leaders Fulham.

Follow our blog for build-up, team news, match updates and post-match reaction.