Preview:Southampton vs Swansea City - prediction, team news, lineups

Swansea City will return from the international window with a trip to the English South coast for Saturday's Championship encounter against Southampton at St Mary's.

The Saints are currently sitting in 17th place in the Championship standings, while the Swans are a point better off in 12th position.

Match preview

After suffering relegation from the Premier League last term, Southampton tasked Will Still with the job of spearheading the club's attempt to secure an immediate return to the top flight.

However, the former Reims and Lens boss has made an underwhelming start to life on the South coast, having overseen two wins, five draws and two defeats in nine league matches.

In fact, the Saints have won just one of their previous six Championship outings (D4, L2), with that victory taking place against Sheffield United at the end of September.

Southampton followed their successful trip to Bramall Lane with a 1-1 away draw against Derby County, which saw Adam Armstrong's early opener cancelled out by Patrick Agyemang.

Still's charges will be looking to claim three points on Saturday to give their campaign some much-needed impetus, especially as they have failed to win each of their last three home games since beating Wrexham on the opening day of the season.

The hosts can take confidence from the fact that they have won four of their last five competitive home games against Swansea, including a resounding 3-0 success in January's FA Cup clash.

After taking 12 points from their opening nine league games, Swansea are sitting just inside the top half of the table and are three points adrift of the top six ahead of Saturday's trip to St Mary's.

Swansea have experienced an underwhelming run of form in the lead-up to the international break, recording just one win in four matches following their successful EFL Cup outing against Nottingham Forest.

They lost narrowly to Birmingham City and drew with Millwall, before they edged out Blackburn Rovers via a 2-1 scoreline at the end of September.

However, they failed to build upon that result in their home meeting with Leicester City, despite Adam Idah netting a 70th-minute equaliser from the penalty spot.

The Foxes went on to score two late goals to condemn Alan Sheehan's side to a 3-1 defeat, representing their first competitive home loss of the 2025-26 campaign.

Swansea will be looking to bounce back by claiming their first win against Southampton since recording a 2-1 home victory in January 2017, while their most recent victory at St Mary's took place in February 2015.

Southampton Championship form:

D D L D W D

Southampton form (all competitions):

D L L D W D

Swansea City Championship form:

W D L D W L

Swansea City form (all competitions):

D W L D W L

Team News

Southampton forward Ross Stewart is set to miss the rest of the calendar year after picking up an injury in the draw against Derby before the international break.

Tom Fellows replaced the injured Stewart at Pride Park, and is now set to return to the starting lineup for Saturday's home fixture.

Welington remains unavailable for selection as he continues to work on his rehabilitation from an ankle injury that he sustained in August.

As for the visitors, they are unable to call upon summer signing Ricardo Santos, who is yet to make his Swansea debut due to a knee problem.

Ethan Galbraith and Zeidane Inoussa are pushing for recalls after dropping down to the bench for the defeat to Leicester earlier this month.

Zan Vipotnik will continue to lead the line for the Swans, having scored four goals in eight Championship appearances this season.

Southampton possible starting lineup:

McCarthy; Edwards, Wood, Quarshie, Manning; Jander, Charles; Fellows, Scienza, Fraser; Armstrong

Swansea City possible starting lineup:

Vigouroux; Key, Cabango, Burgess, Tymon; Franco, Stamenic, Galbraith; Ronald, Inoussa, Vipotnik

We say: Southampton 2-1 Swansea City

Southampton may be struggling for consistency under Still's watch, but they tend to fare well in meetings with Swansea, and having won four of their last five head-to-head home matches, we think that they will make full use of home advantage again to take maximum points from Saturday's contest.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.