Wycombe Wanderers make the trip across the Welsh border to face Swansea City in the second round of the EFL Cup on Wednesday.
In a rare meeting between the two sides, both will look to improve on underwhelming performances in this competition in recent seasons.
Match preview
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Swansea come into this early round tie on the back of a 1-1 draw with Cardiff City in the south Wales derby on Sunday.
Local lad Liam Cullen opened the scoring inside 10 minutes for the Swans, but a late Callum Robinson equaliser meant the spoils were shared at the Swansea.com Stadium, as the hosts handed Cardiff their first point of the season.
The draw moves Swansea up to eighth with four points to their name after three matches, but there was disappointment at their inability to hold on and build more momentum after a 3-0 win over Preston North End last week.
A better showing in this competition for the 2013 winners will be most welcomed, as a 3-1 win over League Two Gillingham in the previous round was just their third EFL Cup win in four seasons, after first round exits to lower-league opposition in 2020 and 2022.
The next challenge for Luke Williams's side is the visit of Wycombe, a side they have faced just twice in 17 years, both during Wanderers' season in the Championship back in 2020-21.
Swansea won 2-0 at Adams Park, but there was nothing to separate the sides when they met here, drawing 2-2, and League One Wycombe would be pleased if they can be as competitive this week.
Matt Bloomfield's men recorded their first league win of the season at the weekend, finally putting strong attacking performances to good use with a 2-0 win over Rotherham United.
Wycombe had also scored two goals in both of their opening League One fixtures, but fell to 3-2 defeats against promotion hopefuls Wrexham and Birmingham City.
In close encounters against two strong sides, narrow defeats were disappointing but encouraging, and Wanderers were able to get over the line to get off the mark on home soil on Saturday.
Bloomfield also saw his side net twice in their first round clash with Northampton Town which booked their spot here, making it four seasons in a row that Wycombe have progressed past the first round.
However, getting much further has proved problematic, as Sutton United and Bristol City have dumped them out at this stage in the past two seasons, while they were condemned to a third round exit the season before.
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Team News
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Six players who started Swansea's win over Gillingham in the last round have not started either of the league games since, so they could all be given another opportunity here.
Among them is striker Zan Vipotnik, who recently arrived from Bordeaux after their dissolution, while there could also be debuts for Florian Bianchini and Nelson Abbey, after both were unused subs on Sunday.
On the injury front, Sam Parker, Aimar Govea and Josh Ginnelly are set to remain on the sidelines for the hosts.
Despite only being a few weeks into the new season, Wycombe already have a lengthy list of absentees currently.
Goalkeeper Nathan Bishop joins the likes of Ryan Tafazolli, David Wheeler, Sam Vokes, Luke Leahy, Brandon Hanlan and Beryly Lubala on the treatment table for the visitors ahead of the trip.
New signings Gideon Kodua, Aaron Morley and Cameron Humphreys all came off the bench to make their debuts against Rotherham, with the latter scoring the opening goal in that 2-0 success, and could well start here.
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Vigouroux, Naughton, Cabango, Pedersen, Tjoe-a-On; Fulton, Allen, Cooper; Abdulai, Vipotnik, Ronald
Wycombe Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Ravizzoli, Grimmer, Low, Hartridge, Harvie; Morley, Scowen, Sadlier; Udoh, Humphreys, McCleary
We say: Swansea City 2-1 Wycombe Wanderers
While changes are likely for the hosts, a strong bench gives them the chance to rotate effectively in the cup competitions, and that could see them into the third round here.
Being a division below their hosts, Wycombe are understandably the underdogs, but they should make a good fist of it, even if that does still result in elimination.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Andrew Delaney
