Derby studied Matos' Maritimo - and got what they expected

John Eustace says Derby County did their homework on Vitor Matos' Maritimo side to prepare for Tuesday's 2-1 victory at Swansea City.

Matos' first game as Swansea boss ended in home defeat thanks to goals from Joe Ward and Lars-Jorgen Salvesen, with Ethan Galbraith's late strike offering scant consolation for the home side.

Head coach Eustace said the Rams studied Maritimo, the club Matos had managed since the summer - and got what they were expecting at the Swansea.com Stadium.

"We watched four or five of his games when he was manager there, looking at how he does things - we do things properly," Eustace said.

"Swansea play 4-3-3. They're a fantastic footballing team. Obviously, he's come from a team that played 4-3-3, so we expected 4-3-3."

Matos did indeed play a 4-3-3 system, with Eom Jisung and Ronald either side of Zan Vipotnik and Liam Cullen, Galbraith and Jay Fulton – who made his 300th Swansea appearance – in midfield.

That meant the likes of Marko Stamenic, Goncalo Franco, Zeidane Inoussa and Adam Idah began on the bench, while Malick Yalcouye did not even make the matchday squad.

Matos must now decide whether to reshuffle for Saturday's trip to West Bromwich Albion, where Swansea will hope to avoid a fifth successive Championship defeat.