The first time these two sides met in the top flight was in the recent 2011/12 season however the first match-up came in the FA Cup in the not so recent 1914/15 season. There have been a number of occasions in which Newcastle have played Swansea in the second tier, it was a fixture played with some regularity during the 1930s and early 1960s.

Going back to that first fixture in the top flight, it came in December 2011, just one month after the sudden and very sad passing of club and Wales legend, Gary Speed. The beautiful sound of the Welsh hymn, Bread of Heaven was sung before kick-off as the two sides remembered, not only a great footballer, but also a great man.

Facts and Figures

All Competitions

Newcastle wins: 23

Swansea wins: 15

Draws: 6

League games

Newcastle wins: 19

Swansea wins: 14

Draws: 5

League at Swansea

Newcastle wins: 9

Swansea wins: 8

Draws: 2

Previous ten (all competitions)

Swansea wins: 6 (15 goals)

Draws: 2

Newcastle wins: 2 (11 goals)

Biggest wins (in this fixture)

Swansea 0 - 2 Newcastle United (06/02/1915)

Swansea 0 - 2 Newcastle United (06/04/2012)

Newcastle achieved their joint biggest win away at Swansea on their first visit to Swansea for an FA Cup Replay after the two sides played a 1-1 draw at St. James' Park the week before.

Fast forward 97 years and Swansea are experiencing their first season in the Premier League and enjoying life there as they had very little threat of relegation after the season started. It was on a Good Friday afternoon where Papiss Cisse, at the peak of his form soon after his move to Tyneside, ran the show by scoring the only two goals of the game - the second of which was spectacular. Cisse received the ball on the left side and just inside the 18-yard box. After a first touch to control the ball, he seemed to be losing his balance and he struck the ball as he tumbled. The ball looped over Michel Vorm, who didn't seem that far off his line, and into the top corner. This win was the fourth win of a six-game winning streak which saw the club achieve Europa League football at the end of the successful season.

Biggest defeat (in this fixture)

Swansea 4 - 0 Newcastle United (13/12/1980)

The first draw in this fixture came on Newcastle's 14th trip to South Wales in February 2010. Andy Carroll's late equaliser after getting on the end of Leon Best's cross enabled Newcastle to salvage a point on what was Newcastle's first visit to the Liberty Stadium.

It will be an interesting encounter on Sunday. Jonjo Shelvey could be making his first return to the club where he spent two and a half years at. After narrowly avoiding relegation last season, Swansea will be looking to get off to a good start to try and ensure they don't have a repeat of that close call.

Now that the transfer window has closed, Swansea certainly impressed me with the way they reacted to losing two of their key players, Sigurdsson and Llorente, within the final week of the window (Llorente, of course, left on deadline day). Instead of selling and hoping for the best, the club acted really well in buying back Wilfried Bony after a less than impressive time at Man City.

Not forgetting Renato Sanches of course. He was certainly on the radar of some of Europe's biggest clubs this summer and it may have been a surprise to some that he opted to go to Swansea on loan as he's reunited with Paul Clement whom he knew at Bayern Munich last season.