Championship Preview: Swansea City
Written by ad_wilkin on Friday, 7th Nov 2025 11:49
Swansea were a side I had down as a dark horse this season, but things haven’t gone quite to plan despite a solid summer transfer window.
They currently sit 17th following four wins, five draws and five defeats. Their biggest success so far has been in the Carabao Cup where they knocked out Premier League side Nottingham Forest before falling to Manchester City in the last round.
Thirty-one-year-old Chilean international Lawrence Vigouroux is the Swans’ number one and has helped them keep three clean sheets. He’s made 39 saves and is the third keeper Town have faced in a row to have a positive goals prevented metric of 2.21.
His best performance of the season so far was against Southampton where he made eight saves and four high claims.
His back-up is Andrew Fisher with Paul Farman filling in as third-choice, however, you’d say that both represent a big drop off should Vigouroux get injured.
Manager Alan Sheehan has kept his defensive backline largely stable with two attacking full-backs alongside two solid centre-backs.
It’s the two Joshes at full-back, Key on the right and Tymon on the left. The pair have largely struggled to provide an attacking threat whilst also looking susceptible defensively and are an area that Town will look to exploit.
The centre-back pairing looks much more solid. Ben Cabango has been with Swansea since 2019 and has been a mainstay in the side since then.
The cultured defender is complemented by big Aussie Cameron Burgess. I won’t need to tell you what he brings to their defence but the highlight of his season so far will be his brace against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup, the second of which was an exquisite match-winning rocket.
Sheehan switched to a back five against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup and stuck with it for the game against Charlton, which allowed Kaelan Casey, on loan from West Ham, to get some game time.
The 21-year-old looked impressive in both of those appearances, getting an assist against Charlton and will have given his manager some food for thought.
Ishe Samuels-Smith, on loan from RC Strasbourg, also came in against City and can cover centre-back and left-back whilst the experienced Ricardo Santos has been signed from Bolton but is yet to make his debut.
Swansea graduate Samuel Parker, 19, represents cover at right-back and played some of the early Carabao Cup rounds.
Ethan Galbraith and Goncalo Franco have been the main central midfield pairing for the Swans. Galbraith has proved to be an excellent pick-up having signed in the summer from Leyton Orient.
His six goals and six assists in League One last season earned him that move and although he’s struggled to hit those numbers in the Championship, he’s still an important creative outlet.
Franco alongside him is the one tasked with doing the dirty work and is in the top 10% of Championship midfielders for tackles and interceptions with 28 combined.
Thity-one-year-old Jay Fulton provides experienced cover and has largely been used as a finisher to come on and see out the game.
New Zealand International Marko Stamenic is also an option in there, as is Brighton loanee Malick Yalcouye. The latter saw red against QPR playing in a more advanced role which may see him struggle to get back into the team.
That red card gave Liam Cullen the chance to start a few games but the Wales international seems to have a long way to go to get regular football in this side.
The same could be said for Swede Melker Widell, who has made nine appearances but all from the bench having spent most of his career in Denmark before his move to Wales in January.
Brazilian Ronald has been Swansea’s most used option on the right-wing although I’ve yet to be convinced by him. His end product was woeful the last time these two met in Wales with a number of wayward crosses. He has, however, managed three goals so far this season.
For me, Manuel Benson represents a much better option but the Angolan, on loan from Burnley, has struggled for game time so far. In his peak season in the Championship in 2022/23 he scored 11 goals from just 14 starts, so if the Swans can get him firing, he’s a very good Championship player.
On the left side, playing time has been split between two 23-year-olds, South Korean international Ji-Sung Eom and Swede Zeidane Inoussa. Between them they have an underwhelming three assists and no goals.
That output could well have left Swansea in trouble if it wasn’t for the goalscoring exploits of Zan Vipotnik, who has six goals in 11 appearances. His latest contributions were two against Norwich to secure three points in a 2-1 victory. It’s worth noting the 23-year-old Slovenian is vastly outperforming his xG of 2.57, so there is a chance those goals will dry up at some point.
If that is the case, then Adam Idah looks ready to step up. The Irishman was rotated in from the start against Charlton and secured the Swans a point with a great swivel and shot in off the post that was very reminiscent of Freddie Ladapo’s against the same opponent.
Young Scotsman Bobby Wales is the third-choice striker but hasn’t played since the early round of the Carabao Cup against Crawley when he got a goal and an assist.
The Kieran McKenna roulette wheel struck again on Tuesday night with some bizarre changes. Chuba Akpom is not a 10 for me, so I'd like to see a return to Marcelino Nunez.
At left-back we have a Leif Davis-shaped potential problem. Ben Johnson was okay on Tuesday night but Jacob Greaves looked like a man reborn when he came on and I actually preferred him at left-back in the Premier League season, so I think that’s the move to make.
My more controversial selection would be down the right. Sindre Walle Egeli is improving game by game but has played a lot of minutes recently and also still has a lot of work to do on his defensive game, so I'd be going for Kasey McAteer.
And to complement him, as they seem to have developed a good on-the-pitch relationship, I can see Ashley Young slotting back in at right-back.
Swansea played a day later than Ipswich and lost 2-1 to Preston North End on Wednesday night. They stuck with a back five in a 5-4-1 and rotated their wide player. They may stick with that or they could revert back to a four.
Adam Idah has started the last two as Vipotnik was injured but he was back on the bench against Preston and I'd imagine he comes straight back in for this one given his goalscoring record.
Away days so far this season have been a mixed bag showing that anything can happen in this crazy league. I’m going for an end to end 3-2 victory.
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