Meet the opposition | Stoke City
As Swansea City get set to face Stoke City, we take a closer look at the Potters.
WHAT'S THEIR STORY?
Having initially been founded in 1863 as Stoke Ramblers, the team was originally mainly made up of local railway workers.
They became Stoke Football Club in 1878, before becoming Stoke City in 1920.
The club's first, and to date only, major trophy was won in 1972, when they beat Chelsea to win the League Cup.
The Potters have won the Football League Trophy on two occasions, first in 1992 and most recently in 2000.
After a successful run under Tony Pulis that led the Potters to the Premier League and the FA Cup final, they are now in a seventh season back in the Championship following relegation in 2018.
HOW'S THEIR FORM?
Stoke have won two of their last 17 games in the Championship, and have got four league wins in total to their name this season.
Their home victory over Sunderland on December 2 is their only home win since November 3.
WHO'S THE GAFFER?
Mark Robins. The 55-year-old came through the ranks at Manchester United as a player and made around 50 appearances for the club before moving on to Norwich City. He played more than 400 games in a 17-year playing career, but is best known for time with the Canaries and Leicester City.
The striker scored more than 100 career goals and took his first steps into management in 2007 when he took the reins at Rotherham United on a caretaker basis. After picking up three wins in six, Robins was given the role permanently and went on to have two successful campaigns with the Millers.
He left to join their south Yorkshire rivals Barnsley before heading to Coventry for his first spell in charge of the Midlands club. He helped turn the side from relegation battlers to promotion contenders, but soon departed for another Yorkshire side in Huddersfield Town.
In 2014, he took over at struggling Scunthorpe United but was dismissed after only eight games in charge.
He returned to the Sky Blues in March 2017 and guided them to an unexpected EFL Trophy win less than a month later, but he was unable to prevent relegation to the fourth tier.
However, Robins galvanised the club and led them to promotion via the play-offs with a 3-1 win over Exeter City at Wembley the following campaign.
Two seasons later, he led Coventry to the League One title during the curtailed 2019-20 season to make a return to the Championship, where they performed strongly.
Perennial play-off contenders, they were a penalty shootout away from the Premier League when they lost the final to Luton Town in 2023, and suffered more Wembley penalty heartache when losing to Manchester United in the 2024 FA Cup semi-finals.
Robins left the Sky Blues after nearly eight years in charge in November 2024, and was soon handed the reins by the Potters.
WHO'S THE CAPTAIN?
Ben Gibson. The centre-back, who recently returned from a month out through injury, signed for the Potters in the summer and was named club captain upon his arrival.
A product of the Middlesbrough academy, Gibson had spells on loan at Plymouth Argyle, York City and Tranmere Rovers before breaking into the Boro first team.
After making 185 senior appearances for Middlesbrough, Gibson joined Burnley for a joint club-record fee of £15 million. A tough couple of years and injuries followed until the defender joined Norwich City on loan in September 2020.
The move was later made permanent and Gibson played his part as the Canaries won promotion from the Championship.
He made 40 appearances for Norwich last season as they reached the Championship play-offs.
WHO ARE THE KEY MEN?
Swedish international goalkeeper Viktor Johansson joined the Potters in May 2024 following a four-year stint with Rotherham United.
Johansson came through the ranks at boyhood club Hammarby in Sweden and quickly built an impressive reputation in English youth football within the set-ups at Aston Villa and Leicester City.
He joined Rotherham United in September 2020 and was named the club's Young Player of the Season in his first campaign with the Millers.
The 26-year-old helped Rotherham gain an instant return to the Championship the following season, whilst they also won the EFL Trophy.
In the 2022-23 campaign, Johansson recorded the Championship's highest goals prevented statistic of 8.5 goals prevented across the season. He was a stand-out performer as Rotherham were relegated to League One last term and won the club's Player of the Season award for a second time.
He made his senior international debut for Sweden in October 2023 and has gone on to make three appearances for his country at senior level.
Former Swan Ben Wilmot joined Stoke in the summer of 2021 and has established himself as a key member of the Potters' squad.
He started his career as an academy scholar at his hometown club of Stevenage, progressing through the ranks to break onto the first team scene in 2018, before joining Watford in 2018.
Loan spells followed with Udinese and the Swans, where he etched his name into the history books, scoring his first goal for the club in a 1-0 victory in the South Wales derby in 2019.
Wilmot returned to Watford in the Championship and played regularly as the Hornets earned promotion back to the Premier League.
He was voted Stoke's Player of the Season in the 2022-23 season before a freak knee injury restricted him to 29 appearances for the Potters last term.
Dutch winger Million Manhoef joined Vitesse Arnhem at the age of 15 and scored twice in 20 appearances in 2021-22 after breaking into the team.
He established himself as one of Vitesse's key players the following season, scoring nine goals in 34 appearances and being voted Player of the Season.
Manhoef made the switch to the Potters in February 2024 and netted important goals against Plymouth Argyle and West Bromwich Albion towards the end of last season.
The 23-year-old, who has represented the Netherlands at youth level, has scored three goals and provided three assists in all competitions so far this campaign.