Thomas Christiansen confirmed after the game today that Swedish defender Pontus Jansson was available for today’s game despite not playing. He wants Jansson to be 100% for the big game on Tuesday against Cardiff City and wasn’t going to risk him today.
We were spoilt for choice ahead of the game today with Liam Cooper and Matthew Pennington, along with Jansson all fit and Shaughnessy also in contention. Christiansen went for the pairing of Liam Cooper and Conor Shaughnessy in the end and we got the points with both having decent games but it looks like Jansson will come back into the side to play Cardiff, probably alongside skipper Liam Cooper who didn’t show any signs of his back injury picked up in the home game against Birmingham City last Tuesday.
In terms of players really announcing themselves at the club Pontus Jansson did exactly that in the away fixture at Cardiff last season when he headed cross after cross out of our area to keep a clean sheet and help us on the way to a 0-2 win. At times that day he was on a one-man-mission to take us to the three points and we need that sort of performance against the Bluebirds on Tuesday in what has become a huge game at the top of the league table, both sides on 20 points after 9 games which will be a surprise to most people. A good decision from Christiansen today, and one he had to get right.
