Premier League: Monk's big month to shape Swansea's season

Garry Monk's Swansea are set for a good October

Swansea have made a good start to the season under manager Garry Monk and Andy Brassell believes the Welsh outfit are set for a good October with stability, more goals, and likely improvement the key factors...

If autumn shows us how to separate the contenders from the fly-by-nights, then step forward Swansea City.

In a nascent Premier League table that nobody apart from Chelsea seems able to grab by the throat, opportunity is knocking hard. After six matches, the Swans are in fifth place, level on points with Arsenal and just three behind second-placed Southampton.

This is despite a run of two defeats and a loss in the last three Premier League games, with no goals scored in each of the last two. The thoroughly impressive Garry Monk now has a chance to build a solid foundation for lofty ambitions in October, with Newcastle's visit on Saturday followed by a trip to Stoke and another home tie, with Leicester City.

Monk's name may lack the magic conjured by mention of his immediate predecessor Michael Laudrup but having escaped last season's brush with a relegation fight unscathed, he has moved onwards and upwards smoothly.

The style on the pitch and the patter off it bear the unmistakable hallmarks of thinking big. It will be interesting to see how the coming months play out in front of a support wary of how the club and the squad would cope with the demands of European football a second time.

The early signs suggest they would be better set. Perversely, in the wake of Jonathan de Guzman, Michu and Chico Flores all leaving, the squad appears better equipped than last time around.

The feeling of stability that Monk has brought is undoubtedly a considerable positive, underlined by the return of Ki Sung-Yeung and his signing of an extended contract. Wayne Routledge's parallel commitment to a new deal suggests a trend, and the return and quick reintegration of Gylfi Sigurdsson speaks of a continued vision too.

There is plenty of room for improvement in the front third of the pitch, too. Neither last season's top scorer Wilfried Bony or summer signing Bafetimbi Gomis have scored yet in the Premier League this season (Gomis has one in the Capital One Cup), and Swansea's last league goal was Jonjo Shelvey's consolation in the loss at Chelsea on September 13th.

That Swansea have managed, already, to survive difficult situations - like grinding out a point after going down to 10 men at Sunderland, having narrowly failed to do the same in the previous league match against Southampton - talks of an increasing toughness too. They already have five clean sheets in all competitions, so are perhaps in a better position to grind out points when below their dashing best.

Given that, the 1.910/11 to beat struggling Newcastle on Saturday looks good, as does 2.021/1 for both teams not to score, with the Geordies struggling to find their own rhythm at the sharp end of the pitch. It would set Monk's men up well for a month in which they have the chance to take the bull by the horns.

If you think Swansea can make the most of October, it might be a good point to get onto them at 11.5n/a for a surprise Top 6 Finish. With a reliable spine and more goals to come, it is more appropriate for the competition to worry about Swansea than the other way around.