Preview: Swansea City vs West Bromwich Albion - prediction, team news, lineups

Both inconsistent outfits striving to record rare back-to-back successes, Swansea City and West Bromwich Albion clash at the Swansea.com Stadium on New Year's Day in the Championship.

The Swans managed a solid victory at the home of Oxford United last time out, whilst the Baggies picked up a much-needed win over Queens Park Rangers.

Match preview

Since the arrival of Portuguese head coach Vitor Matos in late November, Swansea City have spilt wins and losses evenly across eight Championship matches, with the Welsh outfit showing improvements under the new regime.

Indeed, there was a significant feat achieved on Monday night by the Swans, who ended a seven-game winless run on the road with an away triumph at Oxford, where a certain Slovenia striker netted the only goal of the contest.

Beating Jamie Cumming in the U's net to register his 10th strike of the campaign, Swansea's Zan Vipotnik is the star of the show for Thursday's hosts, with the 23-year-old trailing only Adam Armstrong (11) of Southampton in the division's Golden Boot race.

Winning four of their six second-tier battles in the month of December, the Swans have moved up to 18th spot in the Championship table ahead of the New Year, seven points above the bottom three and nine points behind the top-six pace.

After losing his first South Wales contest in charge to impressive travellers Derby County on November 25, Swansea boss Matos has enjoyed success in three consecutive matches at the Swansea.com Stadium, conceding just once across those victories.

For arguably the second time in December, Ryan Mason's position as West Brom head coach was saved by a crucial win at The Hawthorns, with the Baggies beating QPR 2-1 on Monday night in the Black Country.

With the likes of Isaac Price and even Aune Heggebo going off the boil in recent times, it was the responsibility of Albion's backline to step up last time out, with defenders George Campbell and Nat Phillips finding the net in a narrow triumph.

After collecting six points in as many matches across December, West Brom are currently occupying 16th position in the Championship rankings ahead of a trip to Wales, seven points behind sixth-placed Watford.

On the verge of derailing any hopes of competing for a playoff spot this season, the Baggies have been simply woeful outside of The Hawthorns over the past three months, losing eight consecutive away matches in the second tier.

Mason's side will therefore need to break recent and long-term trends in South Wales on Thursday afternoon, with West Brom winless across their last five Championships visits to Swansea since March 2020 (D2 L3).

Swansea City Championship form: W W L W L W

West Bromwich Albion Championship form: L L W L L W

Team News

Since scoring the match-winner in a Welsh derby against Wrexham on December 19, Swansea's Adam Idah is yet to return to the pitch because of a hamstring problem.

The Swans' options at the top end of the pitch are reduced further by the absence of Liam Cullen owing to a calf issue.

Whilst Campbell continues to cement his spot at right-back for West Brom, Alfie Gilchrist is serving a three-game suspension for a red card picked up at Hull on December 20.

Painfully out of favour under head coach Mason, Tammer Bany has swapped a spot on the bench for a place in the medical room due to a muscular problem.

Both recently returning from injuries, Alex Mowatt and Jayson Molumby could be reunited in midfield on New Year's Day.

Swansea City possible starting lineup:

Vigouroux; Galbraith, Cabango, Burgess, Tymon; Fulton, Stamenic, Inoussa, Widell, Eom; Vipotnik

West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:

Wildsmith; Campbell, Phillips, Taylor, Styles; Mowatt, Molumby, Johnston, Price, Grant; Heggebo