Preview | Sunderland v Swansea City
Swansea City make the journey to Wearside to take on Sunderland in the Sky Bet Championship this afternoon (3pm).
The Swans will be looking to make it back-to-back away wins having secured three points at Hull when last on their travels.
Sunderland, meanwhile, will have interim boss Mike Dodds in charge following the departure of Michael Beale in midweek.
Team news
Swansea City had Harry Darling back from injury against Ipswich Town, while Luke Williams is waiting on the fitness of Bashir Humphreys.
Josh Key, Harrison Ashby, Azeem Abdulai and Jamal Lowe are all nearing returns from injury although this weekend's game will come too soon for them.
Sam Parker, Liam Walsh and Josh Ginnelly are all sidelined.
Pre-match views
Luke Williams: “We want to finish as strong as we can, you cannot cross your fingers and hope you become a good team.
“You have to keep pushing and see where that takes us, we could go into the summer with a really good feeling and a clear idea of what we want to do moving forward.
“We know we had a tough run of games, the players have tried to be brave against top sides who are incredible. But I am optimistic, and I believe we will finish really strongly and give ourselves a good base for next season.
“I am confident in that, I think I should be. I look at everything from our recent performances, I can see some really interesting trends in the performance that suggest we should be confident.
Mike Dodds: “The performances aren’t as poor as their position in the table. It’s going to be a really tough game against a really good coach. He did really, really well at Notts County.
“You can see in terms of how he sets his team up they are really well coached.
“When you look at the Championship now and just the league table, you could have a counter argument to that. Swansea is going to be a really, really tough game. They have a certain style of play, a certain brand of football and a really bright coach.”
Meet the officials
Keith Stroud is the man in the middle for this afternoon's game.
You can find out more about the experienced referee and his team of officials below.
Remember the last time?
Swansea City recorded their first win of 2023 as goals from Joel Piroe, Liam Cullen and Ollie Cooper sealed victory over 10-man Sunderland on their last visit to the Stadium of Light.
The hosts had defender Luke O’Nien dismissed in the 18th minute, and their stubborn defence was eventually broken when Piroe tapped in at the far post five minutes into the second half.
Sunderland hit back through Dan Neil’s close-range effort, but Cullen continued his good run in front of goal by following up to steer a blocked cross into the bottom corner.
Cooper then rounded things off by flashing a rising drive into the roof of the net.
Prime numbers
12 - Swansea City are unbeaten in 12 of their last 13 meetings with Sunderland, and have not lost on any of their last six trips to the Stadium of Light.
30 - No Championship player has won more first contacts from corners than the 30 racked up by Swansea City’s Harry Darling. In fact, he is 10 clear of any other player.