Preview | Swansea City v Sheffield Wednesday

Swansea City host Sheffield Wednesday at the Swansea.com Stadium this afternoon (3pm kick-off).

The Swans are looking to build on a draw against Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday evening as they go in search of their first league win of the 2023-24 season.

Newly-promoted Wednesday are also looking for the first win of the campaign having picked up two draws from their opening seven games.

Both sides will be hoping a win this afternoon will provide an important platform to kickstart their respective campaigns.

TEAM NEWS

The Swans are waiting on the fitness of Josh Key and Liam Cullen ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Sheffield Wednesday after both were forced off during the midweek clash with Queens Park Rangers, with fatigue and ankle issues respectively.

Joe Allen and Kyle Naughton have been ruled out with a groin injury and calf injury respectively, while Liam Walsh and Nathanael Ogbeta remain side-lined with longer-term injuries.

Ollie Cooper will also miss the match as he is serving a one-match ban following his red card in midweek.

PRE-MATCH VIEWS

Michael Duff: “There is pressure every game, we are not naïve. We need a win, and I and the players want to win.

“Managing this club is a massive responsibility and I want to leave it in a better place.

“We are nowhere near that point, but you cannot finish the job without putting things in place first.

“There are no easy wins in this league, we have to go and get the win and put the complete performance in.

“We have had good spells in games. We were good with the ball for an hour at Preston, the other night we were good without the ball but not as good with it as I would like us to be. But we want to stitch all of those elements together, not just have them in certain periods in games."

Xisco Muñoz: "Aside from Hull we've been in the games we played. It's the next step we need to take and you need to understand why. Every day we are closer to [a win].

"Swansea is one game more. We're closer to winning, last game against Middlesbrough we gave some good performances and went one step forward. We need to go one step further, but always we are very close (to a win).

"One of the things we need to improve is why we're conceding fouls and set-pieces. It's about closing these situations. For me the team is competing in all the games but in some moments you can lose games and that's what we need to change."

MEET THE OFFICIALS

Anthony Backhouse is the man in charge of this afternoon's Championship fixture.

This will be the first time he has taken charge of a Swans game. You can find out more about him and his team of officials below.

REMEMBER THE LAST TIME?

Andre Ayew came off the bench to produce a superb individual goal and earn Swansea City a share of the spoils when they last welcomed Sheffield Wednesday to SA1 in November 2020.

Steve Cooper’s side had trailed to Adam Reach’s first-half effort for the Owls, as they struggled to break down a well-drilled Wednesday defence.

But they showed more spark after the interval, with half-time substitute Ayew cutting his way in from the right to fire his sixth goal of the season into the bottom corner.

Swansea always looked the more likely winners from that point, with Yan Dhanda twice going agonisingly close to finding the net before Kasey Palmer controversially had a last-gasp winner chalked off.

PRIME NUMBERS

2 – Returning striker Jamal Lowe was on the scoresheet the last time the two sides met. The match finished 2-0 to the Swans, with Jay Fulton also finding the net. Lowe will be hoping to get another goal against the Owls this afternoon.

39 – The Swans have lost to Sheffield Wednesday just once since 1984, however this stretch does include a 24-year spell where the sides did not meet.