MX23RW : Wednesday, April 24 00:17:20| >> :600:321616:321616:

Preview: Sheffield Wednesday vs. Swansea City - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Saturday's Championship clash between Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Swansea City turn focus back to their Championship promotion push on Saturday afternoon when they take on Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

The Swans were beaten 3-1 by Manchester City in the FA Cup last 16 on Wednesday, but they have been in superb form in the league and enter this game third in the table.

Wednesday have won three of their last four, meanwhile, and are outside the relegation zone on goal difference.


Match preview

Swansea City's Andre Ayew celebrates scoring against Norwich City in the Championship on February 5, 2021© Reuters

Only one team, fellow automatic promotion contenders Brentford, have been in better form over the past month among second-tier sides than Swansea.

Steve Cooper's charges are unbeaten in their last eight league games, winning six of those in a run that has lifted them right into the mix for a top-two finish.

Indeed, heading into the weekend's fixtures, they are two points behind second-placed Norwich City - at home to Stoke City on Saturday - with a game in hand to play.

Automatic promotion is therefore in the Swans' hands and they have a favourable run of games to come, with each of their next four outings being against teams in the bottom eight.

However, league position may not count for a great deal this weekend if past meetings between these sides is anything to go by.

Swansea have won just one of their 17 away matches against Wednesday in all competitions, drawing eight and losing eight, with their only victory coming in December 2009.

Callum Paterson celebrates scoring for Sheffield Wednesday against Derby County on January 1, 2021© Reuters

The Owls' position does not tell the whole story in another way, either, having been hit by a 12-point deduction at the start of the season that was later halved.

Interim Wednesday boss Neil Thompson has more than steadied the ship since replacing Tony Pulis, the Yorkshire side winning six of their last nine league games - as many as in their previous 38.

The most recent of those wins came against Wycombe Wanderers in midweek, lifting Thompson's side out of the bottom three on goal difference, though Derby County in 22nd have a game in hand to play.

Points are imperative for both teams this weekend for different reasons, then, with Swansea looking up at the Premier League and Wednesday desperate to avoid dropping into the third tier.

Sheffield Wednesday Championship form: WLWWLW
Sheffield Wednesday form (all competitions): LLWWLW

Swansea City Championship form: DWWDWW
Swansea City form (all competitions): WWDWWL


Team News

Andre Ayew celebrates scoring for Swansea City against Queens Park Rangers on December 26, 2020© Reuters

Wednesday have a number of injury concerns, with Dominic Iorfa, Massimo Luongo, Moses Odubajo, Joost van Aken and Cameron Dawson all carrying injuries.

Liam Shaw was recalled to the side against Wycombe after recovering from an injury of his own and will be hopeful of retaining his place in the starting XI.

Up top, Jordan Rhodes has hit a bit of form with two goals in his last three league games, which is one more than he scored in his previous 24 such appearances.

As for Swansea, Steven Benda and Liam Cullen are nursing injuries, but Cooper otherwise has a full group of players to choose from.

The Welsh side gave some of their fringe players a chance against City in the cup, but the likes of Andre Ayew and Conor Hourihane are in line for recalls here.

Ayew has scored in each of his previous three games against Wednesday in the Championship, netting three goals in total.

Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:
Westwood; Harris, Lees, Dunkley, Urhoghide, Reach; Shaw, Hutchinson, Bannan; Paterson, Rhodes

Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Woodman; Naughton, Bennett, Guehi; Roberts, Fulton, Hourihane, Grimes, Bidwell; Lowe, Ayew


SM words green background

We say: Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 Swansea City

Swansea may be in great league form, taking 20 points from the last 24 on offer, but they have a poor record at Hillsborough.

Wednesday have won five on the spin on home soil and we can see them pulling off a surprise victory on Saturday.


Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a double chance bet on a home win or an away win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Home/Away:data


ID:434777: cacheID:434777:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:9160:

Previews by email

Click here to get Sports Mole's daily email of previews and predictions for every major game!


Restore Data
Share this article now:
Swansea City manager Steve Cooper pictured on January 9, 2021
Read Next:
Steve Cooper insists Swansea are "nowhere near the end"
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
10am
Munar
Borges
10am
Navone
Popyrin
10am
Vukic
Daniel
10am
Bouzas Maneiro
Badosa
10am
Davis
Sherif
10am
Putintseva
Yuan
10am
Stephens
Trevisan
10am
Zhu
Jimenez Kasintseva
11.30am
Altmaier
Landaluce
11.30am
Rinderknech
Shevchenko
11.30am
Safiullin
Seyboth Wild
11.30am
Arango
Anisimova
11.30am
Sorribes Tormo
Pera
11.30am
Zhang
Rogers
12pm
Osaka
Minnen
12pm
Vekic
Siegemund
1pm
Darderi
Monfils
1pm
Karatsev
Marozsan
1pm
Van Assche
Bergs
1pm
Linette
Cocciaretto
1pm
Wang
Tomova
1pm
Wang
Dolehide
1.30pm
Dart
Bucsa
1.30pm
Raducanu
Lourdes Carle
2.30pm
Bronzetti
Gracheva
2.30pm
Frech
Cristian
2.30pm
Hibino
Krueger
3pm
Coric
Hassan
3pm
Kokkinakis
Draper
3pm
Nakashima
Bagnis
3pm
Van De Zandschulp
Eubanks
4pm
Baptiste
Saville
4pm
Bejlek
Blinkova
4pm
Errani
Wozniacki
4pm
Montgomery
Avanesyan
4.30pm
Klein
Llamas Ruiz
4.30pm
Burel
Danilovic
5pm
Moutet
Shang
5.30pm
Diaz Acosta
Shapovalov
6pm
Andreeva
Townsend
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Leicester CityLeicester443041086394794
2Leeds UnitedLeeds44279880374390
3Ipswich TownIpswich432611685533289
4Southampton442591085612484
5West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom4420121267442372
6Norwich CityNorwich442191477611672
7Hull City431812136254866
8Coventry CityCoventry4217121366521463
9Middlesbrough44189176460463
10Preston North EndPreston44189175661-563
11Cardiff CityCardiff44195205061-1162
12Bristol City441611175147459
13Sunderland44168205251156
14Swansea CitySwansea441511185762-556
15Watford441217155958153
16Millwall441411194355-1253
17Stoke CityStoke441311204460-1650
18Queens Park RangersQPR441311204157-1650
19Blackburn RoversBlackburn441310215874-1649
20Plymouth ArgylePlymouth441212205869-1148
21Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds44138233968-2947
22Birmingham CityBirmingham441210224864-1646
23Huddersfield TownHuddersfield44917184774-2744
RRotherham UnitedRotherham44412283285-5324


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!