Preview: Swindon Town vs Newport County - prediction, team news, lineups

Swindon Town will welcome Newport County to the Nigel Eady County Ground on Wednesday for an important game at both ends of the League Two table.

The hosts have climbed into the top three with three straight wins, while their visitors sit two points adrift of safety in 23rd spot.

Match preview

Swindon Town return to League Two action on Wednesday aiming to strengthen their automatic promotion hopes with a fourth straight victory.

Looking to end their five-year stay in England's fourth tier and climb back up to League One, the Robins currently sit third having earned 55 points from their 30 outings thus far, winning 17 and losing nine of those.

Ian Holloway's side would see their top-three hopes take a hit from consecutive defeats to Salford City, Bromley and Notts County, but they have since bounced back in style with three straight wins, firstly beating Barrow and Harrogate Town 3-1 and 1-0 respectively.

Oldham Athletic then visited the Nigel Eady County Ground on Saturday, and the Robins climbed into third spot with a 3-0 triumph, as James Scanlon had them ahead at the interval and Fletcher Holman and Aaron Drinan put the game out of sight in the final 20 minutes.

Now sitting in the automatic promotion spots after 30 games, two points behind second-placed Notts County but just one, two and three ahead of fourth, fifth and sixth spots respectively, they will hope to continue their winning run and establish themselves in the top three in the coming weeks.

They meet a visiting side desperate for a victory of their own in their fight at the bottom end of the division.

Heading into Wednesday's trip, Newport County find themselves 23rd in League One with 21 points on the board from 29 matches, having managed just five victories alongside 18 defeats.

The Exiles have struggled at both ends of the pitch thus far, with only four sides scoring fewer than their 29 League Two goals while no team have conceded as many as the 54 goals they have allowed.

Christian Fuchs's side would pick up an important first win of 2025 at home to Chesterfield in January thanks to goals from Harrison Biggins and Michael Spellman, but they have since failed to build on that, going on to lose 4-1 and 3-0 to Accrington Stanley and Bristol Rovers respectively before playing out a goalless stalemate at home to Grimsby Town at the weekend.

Sitting in the bottom two as a result of their struggles, but only two points adrift of 22nd-placed Shrewsbury Town, Newport County will hope to pull off a major upset on Wednesday and move out of the drop zone when they visit Wiltshire.

Swindon Town League Two form:

LLLWWW

Swindon Town form (all competitions):

LLLWWW

Newport County League Two form:

LLWLLD

Team News

Swindon Town will field a similar starting XI from last weekend's 3-0 win over Oldham, with Paul Glatzel, Billy Bodin, Daniel Butterworth, Jamie Knight-Lebel and Harry Smith continuing to miss out.

There is competition for attacking spots, though, with Fletcher Holman and Junior Hoillett hoping to earn starts after their substitute appearances in last week's win.

Aaron Drinan remains their key man going forward, having scored four goals in his last three games to move onto 18 for the season in 24 League Two outings and 24 in 30 in all competitions, while mainstay Gavin Kilkenny should return to the midfield from the outset.

Newport County could again be without Matt Smith, Bobby Kamwa and Courtney Baker-Richardson, after they missed Saturday's draw with Grimsby Town.

In the ongoing absence of Baker-Richardson, Leicester City loanee Nathan Opoku should again lead the attack having managed four goals in 16 League Two appearances so far this term.

He may again be supported by Michael Spellman and Gerard Garner, while Harrison Biggins has been a regular in midfield since his January arrival from Shrewsbury Town.

Swindon Town possible starting lineup:

Ripley; Clarke, Tafazolli, Wilson-Brown; Snowdon, Oldaker, Kilkenny, Olakigbe; Drinan, Palmer, Scanlon

Newport County possible starting lineup:

Wright; Shephard, Baker, Delaney, Davies; Brennan; Spellman, Sprangler, Biggins, Garner; Opoku

We say: Swindon Town 2-0 Newport County

Given the contrasting form of the two sides, both in recent weeks and over the course of the season, we cannot envisage anything other than a relatively straightforward home victory for Ian Holloway's side on Wednesday with the visitors struggling in both attack and defence.

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