Preview | Swansea City v Norwich City
Swansea City host Norwich City at the Swansea.com Stadium on Wednesday night (7.45pm) as they look to build on wins against Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall.
While the Swans were registering an away win over The Lions at The Den, the Canaries recorded their fifth league victory of the season when they beat Birmingham City at home.
The Swans will be hoping to keep building momentum, while Norwich will be looking to put their most recent away trip – a 6-2 defeat to Plymouth Argyle – behind them.
TEAM NEWS
Kristian Pedersen has been ruled out with a groin injury. Michael Duff believes the defender is 50-50 for a return against Plymouth Argyle at the weekend, but will be back after the international break.
Elsewhere, the Swans wait on the fitness of Jerry Yates after he was withdrawn at half-time against Millwall. Charlie Patino is expected to be okay after leaving the field with cramp.
Josh Ginnelly, Joe Allen and Nathan Wood are long-term absentees, while midfielder Liam Walsh got some valuable minutes under his belt for the under-21s on Monday.
PRE-MATCH VIEWS
Michael Duff: “It was great to share the victory at Millwall with the fans who made the journey, it’s not easy with train strikes and the distance it takes to travel to a lot of places from Swansea.
"They pay their hard-earned money to support us and it’s great to be able to thank them for their efforts with three points and a good performance.
"We will be looking to deliver the same against a Norwich side who are one of the favourites for promotion and have looked good from what I’ve seen of them this season.
"They look to try and play a really expansive game, the games come thick and fast in the Championship and they are all hard games, this one will be no different.
"We will look to build on this platform we have given ourselves and hopefully we can take another positive step."
David Wagner: “'They have had three 3-0 wins [two league and one in the cup].
“That speaks for itself. They are a side in super form. In ball possession, they are technically very good.
“They changed their shape in two or three games again and it looks at this moment that they have found their form.
"It's no big secret. We know exactly what we will face. Now we must find the right answers.”
MEET THE OFFICIALS
Tom Nield will be the man in the middle when Swansea City host Norwich City.
Having officiated mainly in League Two and League One, Wednesday’s match will be the fifth time west Yorkshire-based Nield has taken charge of a Championship match, and his first visit to the Swansea.com Stadium.
REMEMBER THE LAST TIME?
Swansea City returned to Championship action after the 2022 Qatar World Cup break by hosting Norwich City at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Teemu Pukki punished a sloppy start by scoring the winner inside 60 seconds for the visitors.
It had already taken last-ditch defending to deny the Finland striker, even before he arrived at the far post to meet a flick-on and open the scoring in the first minute.
From that point on the hosts were the better side, enjoying dominance of the ball and having double the number of shots on goal and shots on target of the visitors, but they were unable to find an equaliser.
PRIME NUMBERS
19 – Norwich City are the league’s second top scorers with 19. (Ipswich Town - who are top of this metric - have played an extra game). However, they are also 19th in the goals conceded table, given them a goal difference of plus three.
59 – This is a fixture which usually brings goals. There have only been two goalless draws in the 59 clashes between the two teams. The most recent of these was in 1964 – 59 years ago.