Paulo Sousa admits that his team will need the right intensity in order to overcome "difficult opponents" this weekend.

The Swans welcome Sheffield Wednesday to the Liberty Stadium on Saturday (3pm) as they continue with their bid for promotion.

Alan Irvine's struggling Owls make only their second trip to the Liberty on the back of a defeat at West Brom on Tuesday, but the Swans boss is expecting a tough contest against a side that sits in the final relegation place.

"It's always difficult, especially when you play at home," said Paulo.

"If you look at our opponents when they come to the Liberty they close down all the available spaces, look to go on counter attacks and create opportunities from set plays.

"In recent games I have seen them [Sheffield Wednesday] play and they are much more organised. They didn't have all the luck in their last match against West Brom and if they did they might have gone on to win.

"They closed them down well and had some good counter attacks from which they could have scored and for that we need to be at our best."

Victory at Watford on Tuesday helped the Swans increase the gap over the immediate teams below, and with other play-off contenders in action against top teams this weekend a win against the Owls could see the Swans' advantage increase yet again.

Sousa has also been handed a boost with news that Garry Monk (calf), David Cotterill (hamstring) and Nathan Dyer (ankle) are all close to returning but do face a race against time to feature on Saturday.

But with or without the trio the Portuguese legend has called for focus from his team in preparation for game number three of seven this month.

Action from the Swans' 2-0 win at Hillsborough in December

"We need to be 100% focussed to do the right things and to make the right decisions," he added.

"Only with the right decisions and right intensity in our game we can beat difficult opponents and on Saturday they will be very difficult opponents."

Alan Irvine, meanwhile, has told his Sheffield Wednesday players they will escape the drop if they can maintain the form they have shown of late.

The Owls, currently third from bottom with 11 games to go, have bounced back from a 5-0 drubbing at relegation rivals Reading with a win over Leicester and a narrow midweek defeat at West Brom.

"We were excellent at West Brom, particularly in the first half and I reminded the players that performances like that for the remainder of the season will win us more games than they will lose," said the former Preston boss.

"We will have to be very disciplined about the way we do our jobs.

"Everybody who goes to Swansea knows there will be spells where they don't have the ball, so you have to keep your shape and use that as the platform to hopefully cause them problems."

The Owls could have front-man Marcus Tudgay back in the squad after he missed the midweek defeat at the Hawthornes through injury.

Defender Lewis Buxton is the only absentee as he struggles with a hamstring injury.

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