Ange Postecoglou will be looking to claim his first win as Nottingham Forest boss when his team take on Swansea City in Wednesday's EFL Cup clash at the Swansea.com Stadium.
The third-round clash represents the start of Forest's EFL Cup campaign, while the Swans have negotiated two ties to reach this stage of the competition.
Match preview
Swansea have proven to be a tough team to beat in the opening stages of the season, having put together a six-game unbeaten run in all competitions since losing to Middlesbrough on the opening day of the campaign.
Two of those six matches have taken place in the EFL Cup, with Swansea beating Crawley Town 3-1 in round one, before they prevailed on penalties in their second round clash against Plymouth Argyle.
After backing up their penalty shootout success with a 2-0 league win over Sheffield Wednesday, Alan Sheehan's side looked set to claim another victory in their first game back from the international break.
Zan Vipotnik and Ronald grabbed a goal apiece to establish a 2-1 lead in Saturday's home meeting with Hull City, only for John Egan to net a dramatic 97th-minute equaliser to deny the Swans all three points, leaving them in seventh spot in the Championship standings.
Swansea will now be fully focused on their first EFL Cup third-round tie since they lost 2-0 to Brighton & Hove Albion in the 2021-22 competition.
The 2012-13 EFL Cup winners will be looking to surprise their Premier League opponents to advance to the fourth round for the first time in eight years.
Swansea City head coach Alan Sheehan on August 30, 2025
Postecoglou is preparing for his second game as Forest boss after replacing Nuno Espirito Santo ahead of Saturday's away clash with Arsenal.
Forest decided to dismiss Nuno just three matches into the season following a breakdown in his relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Unfortunately for Postecoglou, he was unable to make a positive impact in his first game in charge, as he saw his team fall to a heavy 3-0 away defeat against the Gunners.
Postecoglou promised after the match that the team would start reflecting his ideas and philosophy from Wednesday's EFL Cup clash against Swansea, which Forest will hope will be the start of their journey to lifting the League Cup for the first time since 1989-90.
However, they will be aware that embarking on a cup run will be no mean feat, especially as they have not won an EFL Cup tie since they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers on penalties in the 2023-24 quarter-finals.
The Tricky Trees can at least take comfort from the fact that they have recorded sizeable victories in their last two games against Swansea, prevailing by 4-1 and 5-1 scorelines in away and home encounters in the 2021-22 Championship campaign.
Swansea City EFL Cup form:
W W
Swansea City form (all competitions):
W W D W W D
Nottingham Forest form (all competitions):
Team News
Nottingham Forest's Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic pictured on August 24, 2025
Swansea defender Ricardo Santos is continuing to work on his recovery from a knee problem, while Jay Fulton and Marko Stamenic will miss the cup tie with groin injuries.
Goalkeeper Andy Fish is set to come in for Lawrence Vigouroux after playing the first two EFL Cup games against Crawley and Plymouth.
Sheehah could make further changes in a bid to keep his squad fresh, with Sam Parker, Melker Widell, Ji-sung Eom and Liam Cullen among those pushing for starting spots.
As for the Premier League visitors, Postecoglou is unable to call upon Nicolas Dominguez and Ola Aina due to knee and hamstring injuries respectively.
Murillo will have to be assessed by the club's medical staff after he was forced off in the first half of Saturday's defeat against Arsenal.
Postecoglou will want to see his team implement his ideas on Wednesday, but he could still take the opportunity to rotate his squad for the third-round tie, which could result in starting opportunities for John Victor, Douglas Luiz, James McAtee, Dilane Bakwa and Arnaud Kalimuendo.
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Fisher; Parker, Cabango, Burgess, Tymon; Galbraith, Widell; Ronald, Cullen, Eom; Vipotnik
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
John; Savona, Milenkovic, Morato, Williams; Luiz, Anderson; Bakwa, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Kalimuendo
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We say: Swansea City 1-2 Nottingham Forest
After starting his tenure with a heavy defeat, Postecoglou will be desperate for his team to produce a strong display in the EFL Cup clash, even if he decides to make changes to his side.
We believe Swansea will make it a tough evening for the Premier League club, but we think the visitors' extra quality will shine through in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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