Swansea City

The Swans beat arch rivals Cardiff City to become known as the first ever Welsh side to reach the Premier League. After a 3rd place finish last season, it meant the lottery of the play offs sealed their promotion. Under the tutelage of Brendan Rodgers their style of play has received plenty of praise, but can they turn it into top flight safety

Goalkeeper

Jose Moreira has been brought in from Benfica to add competition for places, and could be installed as number one right away. This does look like a potentially sticky point for the club, particularly if Swansea's defence buckles under the pressure of top flight football.

Defence

Ashley Williams is very highly thought of, while both captain and vice captain operate in defensive berths. No real big name defender with top heaps of top flight experience has been brought in, so the trust shown could swing from one extreme right through to the exact opposite.

Midfield


With the free flowing football so often on display at The Liberty Stadium, it is clear that a lot of pacy, creative talent will be on show in the middle of the park. Scott Sinclair is the main man of this side, dazzling since his move from Chelsea, but Wayne Routledge should also be their helping out creatively.

Forwards

Clearly identified as one of the weaker points of the side, and Rodgers reacted by signing Danny Graham and Leroy Lita. The latter of which joins fellow strike partner Luke Moore in having genuine Premiership experience, during their time with Reading and Aston Villa respectively.

Manager

Rodgers stock could not really be much higher right now. He delighted the fans by having his team play such a pleasing, easy an the eye brand of football, and he has now led them to the top tier. Safety will be his hardest task yet.

Areas to Strengthen

When you are a new team to the top flight, you can never have enough experience in your ranks. Plus the need for a large squad in emphasised on a regular basis now, and it is this strength in depth that they could perhaps be lacking.

Expectations

With this being new ground, and achieved when it maybe wasn't too expected in the first place, the Swansea faithful won't be getting too ahead of themselves and 17th place would do nicely.

Odds

5000/1 (Sky Bet)

Players in

Jose Moreira undisclosed (Benfica) Leroy Lita £1.75m (Middlesbrough) Danny Graham £3.5 (Watford) Wayne Routledge £2m (Newcastle United) Michael Vorm £1.5m (Utrecht) Federico Bassone undisclosed (Leeds United) Darnel Situ undisclosed (Lens) Gerhard Tremmel free (Red Bull Salzburg) Steven Caulker loan (Tottenham Hotspur)

Players out

Stuart MacDonald £80,000 (Bournemouth) Darren Pratley free (Bolton Wanderers) Dorus De Vries free (Wolverhampton Wanderers) Albert Serran and Gorka Pintado free (AEK Larnaca) Kerry Morgan free (Neath) Scott Donnelly loan (Wycombe Wanderers) Sam Rose-Miles, Thomas Butler, Jamie Grimes, Cedric Van Der Gun, Charles Kaiser, Jordan Prosser, Matthew Whatley (all released)