Sports Mole previews Saturday’s Championship clash between Birmingham City and Swansea City, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Looking to avoid four straight defeats across all competitions, Birmingham City welcome Swansea City to St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park for a Championship match on Saturday afternoon.
Blues suffered a 1-0 defeat at the home of Stoke City last time out, whilst the Swans enjoyed EFL Cup success earlier this week.
Match preview
After a record-breaking points tally and promotion from League One last season, Birmingham City are learning that they are not going to have it all their own way in the Championship, with Saturday’s hosts losing back-to-back away matches either side of the international break.
There were plenty of positives from the ultimately-unsuccessful trip to Leicester City at the end of August, however there were little highlights for Blues at the bet365 Stadium last weekend, when a first-half header secured maximum points for Stoke.
Including the 1-0 EFL Cup exit at the hands of League One Port Vale, Chris Davies‘s men have failed to score in each of their last three competitive matches, with the Birmingham boss still looking to find the right combination of attackers in his front four.
Dropped for the first time in the second tier this season in Staffordshire, Kyogo Furuhashi could be key to Blues turning their fortunes around in front of net, although the Japan international is yet to gain understanding from his new teammates in terms of intelligent runs.
Birmingham have been exceptional at St Andrew’s over the past 17 months, with the Second City club last losing on home soil in the league all the way back in April 2024, when Cardiff City picked up a 1-0 success over Gary Rowett’s men.
Whilst Birmingham enjoyed a full week of training ahead of this weekend’s clash in the Championship, Swansea have pitted their wits against Europa League-competing opposition on Wednesday night, when they secured their passage into the fourth round of the EFL Cup.
Nottingham Forest were the visitors to South Wales earlier in the week and it appeared as if they would cruise into the next stage after a first-half brace from summer recruit Igor Jesus, however a second-period comeback and three goals won the evening for the Swans.
After scoring just twice in the last two seasons at Ipswich Town, centre-back Cameron Burgess bagged a brilliant brace for Swansea to help his side claw themselves back into the cup contest, with the Australian set to be a key man at the back for the Welsh outfit in 2025-26.
Since the opening-weekend defeat to Middlesbrough, Alan Sheehan’s troops have enjoyed a seven-game unbeaten run across the Championship and EFL Cup, meaning that they should be relatively confident of picking up a result at the base of the Blues this weekend.
Four of the last five meetings between Birmingham and Swansea have ended with a share of the second-tier spoils, with Blues the most recent side to win this fixture in February 2023, when they secured a 4-3 at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Birmingham City Championship form: D W W L L
Birmingham City form (all competitions): W W W L L L
Swansea City Championship form: L W D W D
Swansea City form (all competitions): W D W W D W
Team News
Birmingham remain without the services of Keshi Anderson and Willum Willumsson, with both players expected back after the international break.
That attacking pair join a duo of long-term absentees in the Blues medical room, with Lee Buchanan and Scott Wright serious injuries.
Marvin Ducksch is looking likely to receive his full Championship debut, with the German coming to the second tier off the back of an eight-goal campaign in the Bundesliga.
Swansea are unable to call upon the talents of former Bolton Wanderers defender Ricardo Santos, who picked up a knee injury at the start of August.
Rested from the start during the cup win over Forest on Wednesday night, Zan Vipotnik should lead the Swans’ attack in the Second City.
Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Allsop; Laird, Neumann, Klarer, Cochrane; Paik, Iwata, Roberts, Ducksch, Gray; Stansfield
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Vigouroux; Key, Cabango, Burgess, Tymon; Franco, Galbraith, Pereira, Yalcouye, Inoussa; Vipotnik
We say: Birmingham City 2-1 Swansea City
After back-to-back defeats on the road in the Championship, Birmingham will be targeting home comforts in the Second City this weekend.
Blues have not lost a league match at St Andrew’s in 17 months, and we expect that outstanding run to continue at the expense of Swansea.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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