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Preview: Swansea City vs. Nottingham Forest - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Wednesday's Championship clash between Swansea City and Nottingham Forest, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Swansea City's automatic promotion hopes from the Championship remain in their own hands as they prepare for Wednesday's visit of Nottingham Forest.

The Swans are four points behind second-placed Brentford and five adrift of Norwich City, though they have two games in hand to play on both sides.

Forest enter the midweek round of fixtures 16th in the table, meanwhile, five points above the relegation zone.


Match preview

Swansea City manager Steve Cooper pictured in February 2021© Reuters

Swansea's away match with Sheffield Wednesday was called off at the weekend, meaning that Steve Cooper's men have had a full week's rest ahead of this clash with Forest.

The Swans' most recent outing ended in defeat, though there is certainly no shame in going down 3-1 to Manchester City - the continent's most in-form side - in the FA Cup.

Cooper's focus is now on winning promotion to the top flight, three years after the Welsh side last competed at that level, and his side are in a great position to achieve that.

They are unbeaten in eight league matches, winning six of those, while at home it is 11 games without defeat, keeping a clean sheet in eight of those matches.

Nottingham Forest manager Chris Hughton pictured on January 23, 2021© Reuters

Forest have a good recent record on their travels, however, having won three on the spin and gone five without defeat. That follows a run of five away losses in a row.

The Reds drew 0-0 at home to Bournemouth on Saturday and have collected eight points from the last 12 on offer - a run that has allowed them to look up the division at long last.

Chris Hughton's men lost the reverse meeting with Swansea 1-0 in November, but they have not lost two league games in a single season in this fixture since 1938-39.

Forest have also kept five clean sheets in their last seven away league trips to Swansea, though they were thumped 5-1 at the Liberty Stadium in the FA Cup less than a month ago.

Swansea City Championship form: DWWDWW
Swansea City form (all competitions): WWDWWL

Nottingham Forest Championship form: LLDWWD
Nottingham Forest form (all competitions): WLDWWD


Team News

Andre Ayew celebrates scoring for Swansea City against Queens Park Rangers on December 26, 2020© Reuters

Cooper handed some of his fringe players a start against Man City, but the likes of Andre Ayew and Conor Hourihane should be back in the XI on Wednesday.

Hourihane has been in superb form since joining on loan from Aston Villa in the January window, scoring in all three of his league appearances.

Even with an additional few days' rest following the Sheffield Wednesday postponement, Steven Benda, Korey Smith and Liam Cullen all remain absent.

As for Forest, Samba Sow and Harry Arter are among their absentees for this trip to South Wales.

Hughton did not make a single substitute in the goalless draw with Bournemouth, suggesting that he is happy with his first-choice XI.

However, Yuri Ribeiro is pushing left-back Gaetan Bong for a starting spot here.

Striker Glenn Murray has scored four goals in his last five league appearances against Swansea.

Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Woodman; Naughton, Bennett, Guehi; Roberts, Fulton, Hourihane, Grimes, Bidwell; Ayew, Lowe

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Samba; Christie, Worrall, Figueiredo, Ribeiro; Cafu, Garner; Knockaert, Krovinovic, Lolley; Murray


SM words green background

We say: Swansea City 2-1 Nottingham Forest

Forest will be out for some revenge in midweek after being thumped by Swansea in the FA Cup last month.

The Reds have gone four games without defeat since then, keeping three clean sheets, but Swansea are bang in form and should have enough to complete a rare league double in this fixture.


Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a home win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Home Win:data


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How you voted: Swansea vs Nott'm Forest

Swansea City
81.6%
Draw
13.2%
Nottingham Forest
5.3%
114
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Swansea City manager Steve Cooper pictured on January 9, 2021
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Tables
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Norwich CityNorwich32207545252067
2Brentford32179659342560
3Watford32179643232060
4Swansea CitySwansea30178538191959
5Reading32156114437751
6Cardiff CityCardiff321471148341449
7Bournemouth321310946321449
8Barnsley31146113635148
9Middlesbrough32137123734346
10Stoke CityStoke32111293735245
11Millwall3291673128343
12Bristol City32133163243-1142
13Queens Park RangersQPR301010103034-440
14Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest331010132832-440
15Preston North EndPreston32124163442-840
16Blackburn RoversBlackburn31116144537839
17Derby CountyDerby32108142533-838
18Luton TownLuton31108132435-1138
19Huddersfield TownHuddersfield32106163847-936
20Coventry CityCoventry32810142943-1434
21Birmingham CityBirmingham32710152340-1731
22Rotherham UnitedRotherham3085173341-829
23Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds3197152135-1428
24Wycombe WanderersWycombe3158182351-2823

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