Swansea City welcome Cardiff City to the Swansea.com Stadium this weekend for the second South Wales Derby of the 2023-24 Championship season.
Key Takeaways
- The visitors come into this game on the back of four straight wins
- Swansea have won seven of the last ten meetings between the two
- Cardiff won the meeting earlier this season by a 2-0 scoreline
With neither side likely to be involved in playoff or relegation scraps in a month's time, this will certainly be the match circled on the calendar for fans of both clubs. Cardiff can keep distant hopes of making the top six alive with a galvanising derby win, but to do so they will have to beat Swansea, something they don't do very often.
Swansea City Form
The hosts have been very inconsistent this season, something which is summed up very well by their results across their last eight Championship matches - three wins, four losses and one draw. Being at home doesn't help much either as they've managed just three wins from their last 10 at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Cardiff City Form
Visitors Cardiff come into this game in much the better form of the two sides. While their hopes of reaching the playoffs remain faint, especially given the number of teams they are competing with do so, they are coming into some momentum at the right time. Four straight wins leave them just five points behind Norwich in sixth going into this weekend's fixtures but with four teams above them in the table.
Head-to-Head
Swansea have had their South Wales rivals' number in this derby overall. Cardiff did secure a 2-0 home win last time out but The Swans have won seven of the last ten meetings between the two sides.
Team News
Swansea remain without West Ham loanee Harrison Ashby and winger Josh Ginnelly as both struggle with muscle injuries.
Cardiff have two lengthy absentees of their own in crucial defender Mark McGuinness and goalkeeper Jak Alnwick, but both are being capably deputized by Liverpool loanee Nat Phillips in defence and US international Ethan Horvath between the sticks.
Key Players
Striker Jerry Yates has certainly been the target man for the hosts, netting eight goals so far this season. After more than 100 league appearances for the club, Perry Ng remains arguably the most influential member of the Cardiff City squad. He's chipped in with an invaluable 6 goals and 4 assists so far this season.
Final Thoughts
Anything can happen in a derby but Cardiff will likely try to make this a tight game. The visitors have it all to play for and their success in recent weeks has largely been down to a solid backline. With relegation from the Championship highly unlikely, Swansea may throw caution to the wind, so it could be a case of the two rivals cancelling each other out.
Championship