Matos demands 'game with character' against leaders
[Huw Evans Picture Agency] Vitor Matos says Swansea City must deliver a stellar performance if they are to maintain their fine home form when they face Coventry City on Saturday (17:15 GMT). The Sky Blues, who are seven points clear at the top of the table, come to Wales looking to take another step towards promotion to the Premier League. Frank Lampard's team will also be looking for a response having seen a six-game winning streak come to an end when they were beaten at home by Southampton last weekend.
Mid-table Swansea, meanwhile, are hoping to extend a 10-match league unbeaten run on their own patch as they tackle a Coventry side Matos believes deservedly lead the way in the Championship. "Coventry is a really good team, a lot of strengths, speed in the wings, good finishers in the attack, good players in the middle, organised offensively and defensively," the Swansea head coach said. "We need to have a game with character, a game with personality, a game where we want to impose our way of playing and where we'll need to have, let's say in the not so good moments of the game, the proper mentality.
"[We need to] survive in that moment, without losing the organisation, without losing the concentration and then try to hurt them because that's what it will be about. " Coventry beat Swansea narrowly on 26 December before enduring their worst run of a largely impressive season in January. But they responded by claiming 19 points from a possible 21 before suffering a first defeat since 31 January against the Saints.
"It's a team who deserves to be in the position they are," Matos added. "We will be there to compete and to show they are the kind of team we want to compete with and to show the best version of ourselves. "