Ben Davies ready to face old rivals in South Wales

Ben Davies will renew a rivalry that dates back to his primary school days on Tuesday.

A Swansea boy until his move to Spurs in 2014, the now 25-year-old has played in South Wales derbies opposite Cardiff City for as long as he can remember.

Ahead of our New Year’s Day trip to the Cardiff City Stadium – ironically Ben’s ‘home’ ground on the international stage with Wales – the left-back hopes to draw on his experience of battling the Bluebirds at various different levels over the years to help us begin 2019 in a positive way.

“It probably has been that long!” smiled Ben as it was put to him that he would have been as young as eight years old when he first took to a football pitch against Cardiff.

“Swansea-Cardiff is obviously a derby so I’ve been playing them for years really, but I’ve only played a couple of times against them professionally so I’m looking forward to this one.

“They were regular fixtures when I was younger, we played against them a lot but as far as memories go… it’s one of those things in youth football where some days you win, some days you don’t, but we won a Welsh Youth Cup final against them at Under-18 level which was a nice feeling.

“For me, there’s obviously that Swansea-Cardiff rivalry but also playing for Wales… I’ve played there (at the Cardiff City Stadium) loads of times now and always got a good reception from the Welsh fans, but I’m not too sure what reception I’ll get after being at Spurs for quite a while now!”

After an injury-time win at Leicester City on Saturday, Neil Warnock’s men go into Tuesday’s 5.30pm kick-off in buoyant mood.

For Ben, who was a late substitute in our 1-0 home win over the Bluebirds in October, it’ll be important for us to hit our regular rhythm if we’re to respond to the setback against Wolves at the weekend.

“They won on Saturday, it’s obviously a big result for them and it’s what they need,” said Ben. “They’re scrapping for every point at the moment and they’ll be looking to do the same against us, I’m sure. Every home game for them is vital.

“As for their ground, every time I’ve played there the atmosphere has been pretty good towards me playing for Wales rather than being in the opposition. It’s normally a good pitch, a good place to play and if we can get the ball down and play our football, hopefully we can come away from there with three points.”