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

Swansea City welcome Norwich City to South Wales on Saturday afternoon needing all three points to kick-start what had been a promising opening to the new campaign.

At a time when the home side occupy 16th position in the Championship table, Norwich are down in 22nd with Liam Manning battling to keep his job.

Match preview

Returning to the city of his birth and youth days, Manning becoming Norwich City head coach during the summer felt like the perfect fit, but the 40-year-old is already battling for his future at Carrow Road.

Tuesday's 1-0 defeat at the hands of Derby County made it seven defeats in 11 matches, keeping the Canaries on eight points and down in 22nd place.

Most damningly, Norwich have lost five of their last six games in the second tier, their last success being a 2-0 victory at Blackburn Rovers on August 30.

Curiously, Norwich have earned draws at each of leaders Coventry City and sixth-placed Stoke City, but they are now on a four-game losing streak after matches with West Bromwich Albion, rivals Ipswich Town and Manning's former club Bristol City.

With Norwich possessing the ninth-best away record in the division with eight points from six games, Manning will be optimistic about his side's chances on Saturday, but this is a team that has now scored just twice in five Championship fixtures.

While Alan Sheehan is under far less pressure than his opposite number, the Swansea head coach is aware that he needs to find a solution to his team's recent indifferent form.

When a dramatic 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup extended an unbeaten run in all competitions to seven matches, the club were on a sharp upward trajectory, but the manner of that success appears to have taken something out of the Welsh side.

Only five points have been accumulated from the last six matches, Swansea's solitary success during that period coming by a 2-1 scoreline at 23rd-placed Blackburn Rovers.

Wednesday's 1-0 home defeat to Queens Park Rangers was not helped by Malick Yalcouye's 34th-minute red card, yet it extended a winless run at home in the league to five games.

Saturday's opponents have a chance to move to within two points of their hosts, emphasising the small margins for error for Sheehan between being viewed as the head coach to take Swansea forward and one who may struggle to spearhead a playoff charge.

Swansea City Championship form:

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Norwich City Championship form:

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Team News

With Yalcouye suspended for Swansea, Ethan Galbraith is likely to return to central midfield and Josh Key come into the team at right-back.

Ronald and Zan Vipotnik will also expect to come back into the team at the expense of Zeidane Inoussa and Adam Idah.

Ante Crnac has joined the growing Norwich injury list when he otherwise would have been in contention to replace Jovon Makama.

Jacob Wright and Emiliano Marcondes will also be considered for a return in central midfield and the final third respectively as Manning continues to search for solutions.

Swansea City possible starting lineup:

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

Norwich City possible starting lineup:

Kovacevic; Stacey, Medic, Darling, Schlupp; Mattsson, McLean; Marcondes, Gibbs, Schwartau; Sargent

We say: Swansea City 2-1 Norwich City

With Swansea having struggled for goals of late, Manning and his Norwich players will sense an opportunity to get back on track. However, we can only see the Welsh outfit heaping more pressure on the visiting head coach, who may lose his job with another narrow defeat.

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