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

Hoping to extend their great form at home, Swansea City welcome Bristol City to the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday afternoon. 

The Swans will be aiming to return to winning ways in order to put further breathing space between themselves and the bottom three, while the Robins are looking to make it three unbeaten after earning an 89th-minute draw at home to Wrexham during the week.

Match preview

Following the dismissal of Alan Sheehan in November, Swansea City appointed Vitor Matos as their new manager, and he has overseen 17 matches so far, recording eight wins and guiding the Swans out of the relegation zone as they continue to recover from their early-season struggles.

Despite dominating for most of the game last time out, the Swans fell to a 2-0 defeat away to Derby County and failed to make it three wins in a row following their victories against Watford and Sheffield Wednesday in the weeks prior. 

While that defeat would have been frustrating, particularly with their away form continuing to falter, Matos’s positive start means the South Wales side are now closer to the playoff places than the relegation zone.

A key feature of Matos’s tenure has been Swansea’s home form.

They have not lost on home soil since November and currently boast the seventh-best home record in the Championship; another positive result could see them end the weekend in the top half of the table. 

While their home form is a big reason as to why the Swans are 10 points clear of the relegation zone and six points adrift of the top six, they have been unable to rely on their away performances. 

They have underperformed away from home throughout the campaign, losing 10 of their 16 matches and collecting just 14 points, something Matos will hope his side can improve upon if they are to make a late surge up the table. 

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As for Gerhard Struber’s Bristol City, they face Welsh opposition for the second time in five days and will be looking to extend their unbeaten run to three matches after an impressive win at Hull City and a late draw against playoff rivals Wrexham.

That particular draw against in-form Wrexham would have felt like a win, with a Max Bird 89th-minute screamer rescuing a point against a side who had won their four previous away matches. 

Positive results against teams above them in the table highlight how well they have responded to the heavy defeat against Derby at the end of January that halted their momentum and has seen them slip down the table. 

However, the 5-0 loss at home to Derby County will still haunt them and Struber will know the Robins can not afford another result like that again if they are to finish in the playoff places for the second successive season. 

With that said, if Bristol City can make it three wins from five, they could end matchweek 33 back inside the top six, and they will also take confidence from the reverse fixture, which ended in a 3-0 victory for the Robins.

Swansea City Championship form:

Bristol City Championship form:

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Team News

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Swansea City appear to have come away from their latest clash with no further injuries and with a week-long break between fixtures, could name the starting XI once again. 

Zan Vipotnik has scored 15 Championship goals in 30 appearances and will lead the line again for the Swans on Saturday. 

Bristol City, meanwhile, will be forced into changes after picking up fresh injuries in their midweek encounter, although they have welcomed several players back in recent weeks.

Adam Randell came off with 20 minutes to go after sustaining a back injury and is likely to be unavailable for this one. 

Joe Williams replaced him but scored an own goal shortly after coming on, it remains to be seen whether he gets a start on Saturday.

Bird marked his return from a five-month absence with a superb goal off the bench and could be handed a start, while Sinclair Armstrong, who also scored shortly after coming on, is also pushing for a starting place.

Luke McNally and Adam Murphy will, however, remain on the sidelines for this one but Ross McCrorie should be available after missing the midweek clash due to a concussion picked up in training. 

Swansea City possible starting lineup:

Vigouroux; Galbraith, Cabango, Burgess, Tymon; Stamenic; Ronald, Goncalo Franco, Cullen, Eom Ji-Sung; Vipotnik

Bristol City possible starting lineup:

Vitek; Tanner, Dickie, Atkinson, N. Borges; Bird, J. Williams; Sykes, Twine, Armstrong; Riis

We say: Swansea City 2-1 Bristol City

Although Swansea City have spent the season below Bristol City in the table, it is hard to look past their great record at home. With that in mind, we expect the Swans to scrape past Bristol City and claim three points and return to winning ways. 

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