Laudrup Not Keen On Another Fixture

Swansea City manager Michael Laudrup was pleased not to lose today's Cup tie, but admitted another cup game is not exactly what we wanted in an already very busy January.

His side are back in action on Wednesday night, when they travel to Chelsea in the first leg of the Capital One Cup Semi-Final.

Laudrup was encouraged by his side's character once again, and also the strength in depth they're proving to have. The Swansea boss has had to continually make changes recently to cope with the busy festive period, and he'll have to do so again this month to cope with the busy schedule of fixtures.

Due to today's 2-2 draw, an FA Cup replay at the Emirates Stadium means they'll play 7 games in January, four of them in Cup competitions.

Laudrup told BBC Sport:

'The last thing I want is to lose,'

'It puts one more game on the table for us in January when we already have a lot of games, but every footballer likes to play games.'

'A replay is not exactly what I am looking forward to with the two Chelsea games in mind and league games,'

'It is very tight but when you have been in this profession at the highest level you always want to play and win.'

Talking about the game itself and the strength in depth of the team, Laudrup added:

'I think the overall feeling is that it was a fair result. In the first half Arsenal had only one or two shots at goal and we went closest with a shot from Danny Graham,'

'The second half we made a couple of changes that paid off with Michu's goal, but to be fair to Arsenal they put us under pressure, they kept the ball, took over possession and in those 15 minutes we lost the ball too much.

'They did not score in that spell and I thought we would win 1-0, then they scored two very late goals but again we came back and we again showed the character of our team to come back and score the equaliser.

'It also shows we are building. To play against Arsenal and allow ourselves to have one of the league's top scorers on the bench and still stand up to Arsenal is great to see.

'It shows the depth of the squad is there and we will need it.'

JANUARY FIXTURES:

WED 9TH - CHELSEA (A) - Capital One Cup - Semi Final First Leg
SAT 12TH - EVERTON (A)
SAT 19TH - STOKE (H)
WED 23RD - CHELSEA - Capital One Cup - Semi Final Second Leg
TUES 29TH - SUNDERLAND (A).

Arsenal FA Cup replay date yet to be confirmed. Likely to be around 10 days after Sunday's 2-2 draw.

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