Could Blackpool match up Swansea City's system again?

Blackpool’s head coach lined up with three at the back in November during the original tie between the two sides at the Liberty Stadium.

Dujon Sterling started on the right of the back three alongside Marvin Ekpiteta and James Husband, while Jordan Gabriel and Reece James served as the wing-backs.

Jerry Yates spearheaded the attack on his own with Demetri Mitchell - who has since departed - and Keshi Anderson either side of him.

Swansea play a unique brand of football that sees them dominate possession, building attacks from the goalkeeper and the defenders and through the thirds.

With that in mind, it raises the prospect of the Seasiders matching up their system to nullify any potential numerical advantage in the middle of the park.

But given the Seasiders are in good form and are playing at home, many Blackpool fans will want to see Critchley stick with the 4-4-2 system that has served them so well this season.

Russell Martin’s team did play with a back four in midweek, when his side were thrashed 5-1 by league leaders Fulham. But by and large they’ve stuck to a fluid 3-4-3 system.

When asked if a change of formation had been considered, Critchley told The Gazette: “We want to be us, so whatever formation we play you always see certain principles. The formation is just the steering wheel.

“The principles of how you play have to remain consistent. For example, when we played QPR away recently, even though we changed the shape we were still on the front foot and pressing forward and pressing high, chasing the goalkeeper down and so on.

“In that game QPR didn’t get near our goal in the first-half except from the corner.

“Sometimes you change the formation if you think it’s the right thing to do but we’re off the back of two good wins playing a certain formation and that’s something we need to consider taking into this game.”

Despite their heavy defeat to Fulham in midweek, the Swans are in good form with four wins in seven.

It’s otherwise been an underwhelming campaign for the South Wales outfit, who sit 16th – four points adrift of the Seasiders.