Swansea City and Norwich City will both be looking to build on victories in the Championship last weekend when the two teams face off at The Swansea.com Stadium on Wednesday night.
While the Swans are languishing in 19th place in the current second-tier standings, the Canaries are seven points and 12 places further up in seventh.
Match preview
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Swansea followed up a comfortable 3-0 home win over basement club Sheffield Wednesday with victory by the same scoreline against Millwall at The Den last weekend – their first away win of the new campaign.
Jamal Lowe's first-half penalty was followed by second-half strikes from captain Matt Grimes and summer signing Mykola Kukharevych to help Michael Duff celebrate his second win as Swans boss, although they are still hovering just one point above the Championship drop zone at this early stage in the season.
Swansea will be keen to maintain their positive momentum heading into Wednesday's clash, and they will welcome a return to South Wales as they have only lost one of their last nine home league games.
The Swans have a mixed record on their own turf against Norwich, though, as they have won four and lost four of their last eight home meetings with the Canaries.
Under the tutelage of former manager Russell Martin, Swansea secured a 3-0 away win against Norwich in April, and another victory in midweek will see them record back-to-back league successes over the Canaries for the first time since April 2009.
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Norwich ended a three-game losing streak in all competitions when they claimed a routine 2-0 home victory over Birmingham City in the Championship last weekend.
Two goals in the space of five second-half minutes from Gabriel Sara and Jonathan Lowe ensured that the Canaries claimed their fifth league win of the campaign and moved them to within six points of the automatic promotion places.
David Wagner's side have excelled in front of goal so far this season as they have scored a league-high 19 goals from their opening nine matches, scoring at least two goals on six occasions and drawing a blank just once.
Norwich's away form leaves a little to be desired, though, as they have lost each of their last three games on the road against both Rotherham United and Plymouth Argyle in the league and Fulham in the EFL Cup, conceding 10 goals in the process.
Wagner, meanwhile, has struggled in previous encounters with Swansea as a manager, as he has never seen his team score in three meetings, drawing and losing one each as Huddersfield Town boss before suffering the aforementioned 3-0 home defeat as Norwich manager six months ago.
Team News
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Swansea will be without Joe Allen (leg), Nathan Wood (ankle), Josh Ginnelly (muscle), Nathanael Ogbeta (leg) and Azeem Abdulai (hamstring) due to injury, while Jerry Yates will be assessed ahead of kickoff after coming off at half time against Millwall with "two dead legs"; Kristian Pedersen (groin) is also doubtful.
Charlie Patino also came off early against Millwall due to cramp, but he should be fit to feature in centre-midfield alongside Grimes, with Josh Key and Jamie Patterson set to provide width on the flanks.
Should Yates fail to pass a late fitness test, Kukharevych could be tasked with leading the line in front of fellow attackers Lowe and Liam Cullen.
As for Norwich, Joshua Sargent remains sidelined as he continues to recover from a ligament injury, while Grant Hanley (Achilles), Marcelino Nunez (ankle), Ashley Barnes (leg) and Jakob Sorensen (groin) are also in the treatment room.
Defensive quartet Jack Stacey, Shane Duffy, Ben Gibson and Dimitris Giannoulis are all set to start for the 10th successive league game, protecting goalkeeper Angus Gunn between the sticks.
Attacking midfielder Rowe and centre-forward Adam Idah, who have scored nine goals between them so far this season, are expected to retain their places in the first XI along with wingers Christian Fassnacht and Przemyslaw Placheta.
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Rushworth; Cabango, Darling, Humphreys; Key, Patino, Grimes, Paterson; Lowe, Cullen; Yates
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Gunn; Stacey, Duffy, Gibson, Giannoulis; Sara, McLean; Fassnacht, Rowe, Placheta; Idah
We say: Swansea City 2-2 Norwich City
None of the last nine league encounters between Swansea and Norwich have ended as a draw, but a closely-fought contest could be on the cards on Wednesday.
Both teams have regularly shown their threat in the final third so far this term, but they have also looked vulnerable at times defensively, so we can see an entertaining score draw being played out in South Wales.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Oliver Thomas
