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

Both on a mission to escape impending midtable mediocrity, Swansea City and Birmingham City clash at the Swansea.com Stadium in the Championship on Saturday evening.

The Swans crashed out of the FA Cup last weekend in South Wales, whilst Blues banished their away-day demons with a narrow win at Cambridge United.

Match preview

Since back-to-back league wins over Oxford United and West Bromwich Albion either side of the New Year celebrations, Swansea City have now lost consecutive fixtures across Championship and FA Cup action.

The Swans drew 2-2 with the aforementioned Baggies over 120 minutes in football's oldest cup competition last Sunday, before the managerless visitors managed to earn a spot in the fourth round via penalty-shootout success.

Despite a slight dip in form over the past fortnight, Swansea have undoubtedly improved under the stewardship of Vitor Matos, with the Portuguese tactician moving his side eight points clear of the relegation zone in the Championship table.

Prior to the third-round FA Cup loss, the Swansea had won four consecutive home matches at the Swansea.com Stadium, conceding just once across the beatings of Oxford, Portsmouth, Wrexham and familiar foes West Brom.

Last weekend's defeat to the Baggies brought about a significant moment for full-back and winter arrival Joel Ward, who played his first match for Swansea after 363 appearances and a 13-year spell at Crystal Palace from 2012 to 2025.

After trudging through their past seven Championship away matches winless (D1 L6), a trip to League Two Cambridge in the FA Cup provided rare delight for travelling Bluenoses, who witnessed their side triumph on the road for the first time since late October.

Although progression to the fourth round was the key takeaway from the trip the Abbey Stadium, the evening belonged to confidence-deprived Kyogo Furuhashi, who scored his first Blues goal since August courtesy of a composed finish past Jake Eastwood in the first half.

Now looking to record three straight competitive wins for the first time since the end of the summer, Chris Davies's men are sitting 14th in the Championship table, seven points behind in-form Watford in the lowest of the playoff spots.

As alluded to earlier, Birmingham have fared woefully on their second-tier travels so far in 2025-26, with only League One-bound Sheffield Wednesday (7) and strugglers Portsmouth (7) earning fewer than Blues' eight points across away contests.

A cause for quiet optimism ahead of a trip across the border this weekend, Birmingham are unbeaten in their last nine matches versus Swansea (W4 D5), with the Swans' most recent victory in this matchup coming all the way back in July 2020.

Swansea City Championship form: L W L W W L

Swansea City form (all competitions): W L W W L L

Birmingham City Championship form: D L D D L W

Birmingham City form (all competitions): L D D L W W

Team News

Swansea remain without the services of striker Adam Idah, who is expected to be sidelined until the end of the month owing to a hamstring injury.

The Swans' options at the top of the pitch are reduced further by the absence of Liam Cullen, with the 26-year-old nursing a calf problem.

Birmingham are unable to call upon the talents of Demarai Gray (calf), meaning that Lewis Koumas should start on the left wing after his goal against Coventry.

Blues are in the midst of a January transition, with Marc Leonard and Lyndon Dykes in the departure lounge, whilst Keshi Anderson's contract was terminated earlier this week.

This is likely to leave the visitors with a weakened bench in South Wales, especially with Bright Osayi-Samuel away on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Nigeria.

Swansea City possible starting lineup:

Vigouroux; Galbraith, Cabango, Burgess, Tymon; Fulton, Franco, Widell, Pereira, Eom; Vipotnik

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:

Beadle; Iwata, Klarer, Robinson, Wagner; Doyle, Paik, Roberts, Stansfield, Koumas; Ducksch