Swansea City boss Michael Laudrup has praised West Bromwich Albion ahead of their Premier League meeting at The Hawthorns on Saturday.

The two sides are level on points, with the Swans occupying eighth and the Baggies ninth.

Laudrup believes that it is a meeting of the league's "surprise packages" this season, and said that his team will have to be at their best if they are to claim all three points.

"It is a game between two of the surprise packages of the season," Laudrup told reporters. "Both teams are seven points clear of 10th place, and that is really positive.

"They have done brilliantly this season, especially at home and they have a lot of talent and speed, in particular with [Romelu] Lukaku.

"We always like to have the ball but they are very good on the counter attack so we have to be careful. But we have to go there and play the way we always do and look to get a positive result."

Swansea won the reverse fixture 3-1 in November.