Looking to halt a worrying four-game losing run across all competitions, Swansea City will welcome Coventry City to South Wales for a Championship clash on Saturday afternoon.
The Swans will be aiming to respond following a sobering defeat at Norwich City last time out, whilst the Sky Blues are striving to build on an excellent winning spell.
Match preview
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Now in the midst of their seventh straight season as a Championship club following their Premier League exodus in 2018, Swansea City possess genuine ambitions of competing for promotion in the near future, although a recent run of form has left them painfully behind the playoff pack at the beginning of 2025.
Since success over relegation-threatened Luton Town during the final match of 2024, the Swans have endured a five-game winless streak in the second tier, collecting just a single point across those contests, meaning that the Welsh outfit are starting to look nervously over their shoulders.
A fruitless January concluded with a damaging trip to East Anglia last weekend, when Liam Cullen's ninth goal of the league term was a mere consolation as Norwich City ran out 5-1 victors, with Josh Sargent bagging a brace on his first start since October following injury.
With three first-team players already departed and captain Matt Grimes set for a shock switch to Saturday's opponents Coventry, Luke Williams's squad requires major surgery during what remains of the winter transfer window, with the market closing for business on February 3.
Despite sitting just seven points above the relegation zone in the Championship standings, Swansea should believe in their ability to earn a positive result this weekend, especially considering that each of their last two triumphs in the second tier have arrived at their South Wales base.
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Since replacing Mark Robins in the managerial hotseat in late November, Chelsea and England legend Frank Lampard has sprinkled some Premier League stardust onto Coventry City, who are looking to mount an unlikely push for the playoffs during the second half of the term.
The 46-year-old has won seven of his 13 matches in charge so far, with the latest of those successes arriving in the East Midlands against Watford last Saturday afternoon, when a brilliant Victor Torp brace was enough to snatch all three points at the expense of the Hornets.
Collecting a maximum of nine points from their last three second-tier battles, Lampard's Coventry are currently occupying 12th spot in the Championship rankings, six points behind Michael Carrick's Middlesbrough, who are the side guarding entry to the playoffs at this stage.
Winning only three of their 15 league outings so far in the 2024-25 campaign, the Sky Blues will not be mightily confident of earning three points in South Wales this weekend, although the Midlands side managed an impressive away success last time out, beating Blackburn Rovers 2-0 at Ewood Park.
Both finding the net against John Eustace's men in Lancashire, Ellis Simms and Brandon Thomas-Asante are the preferred two-man forward line for Coventry at present, with the pair doing their utmost to fill the void left by leading marksman Haji Wright, who is sidelined due to a leg injury.
Team News
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With Grimes set to complete a controversial switch from Swansea to Coventry, Goncalo Franco will require a new partner in the engine room this weekend.
Veteran Jay Fulton is the most likely candidate to fulfil that particular role, whilst Brazilian winger Ronald Pereira will provide a bit of magic on the flanks.
Earning a red card during the defeat against Sheffield United, Harry Darling remains suspended for the Swans, meaning that Hannes Delcroix should keep his spot in the XI alongside new skipper Ben Cabango.
The arrival of Grimes at Coventry will increase Lampard's options in midfield at a time when Ben Sheaf remains sidelined because of a muscle injury.
Adding to the Sky Blues' selection issues in attack, summer arrival Ephron Mason-Clark joins Wright in the medical room owing to a hamstring strain.
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Vigouroux; Key, Cabango, Delcroix, Tymon; Franco, Fulton, Parker, Cullen, Pereira; Vipotnik
Coventry City possible starting lineup:
Dovin; Latibeaudiere, Thomas, Kitching; Van Ewijk, Allen, Torp, Rudoni, Bidwell; Thomas-Asante, Simms
We say: Swansea City 1-2 Coventry City
Amid a poor run of form and the loss of their ever-present captain, we are expecting an unsettled performance from Swansea on Saturday afternoon.
Coventry arrive in South Wales looking to make it four wins on the spin the Championship, and we believe that the Sky Blues will pick up their fourth away success of the second-tier campaign.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Carter White
