Swansea City

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

The likelihood is that Adam Idah will once again be made to wait for a chance to make an impression when Swansea City host Millwall this Saturday.

Big-money signing he may be, but Idah has had to stay patient in the early days of his time at Swansea thanks to the form of Zan Vipotnik.

The Slovenia international has the striker's shirt in Alan Sheehan's team right now and it would be a shock should he lose it against the Lions.

Vipotnik had scored in five successive Swansea games before last weekend's 1-0 defeat at Birmingham City, where he would have made it six in six but for an erroneous offside decision.

Idah, meanwhile, is yet to get off the mark following his £6m deadline-day move from Celtic to Swansea – though he has so far made only two substitute appearances, plus one Carabao Cup start, for his new club.

Sheehan says that while Idah is hungry for opportunities, the Republic of Ireland international accepts that Vipotnik deserves to keep his place.

For Swansea's head coach, that sort of competition is exactly what is required.

"Right now Vipi (Vipotnik) is in wonderful form and Adam is champing at the bit and ready to go," Sheehan said.

"Whether it's one playing or the other throughout the season, that's exactly the balance we want to have.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

"We have a lot of games. We are going to need our squad and we are going to need competition for places."

Sheehan has suggested that at some point, Vipotnik and Idah could play in the same Swansea side.

Liam Cullen is another player in the equation when it comes to selecting Swansea's forward line, though it seems the Wales international may be used more often in a less advanced role with Vipotnik and Idah vying to lead the line.

Bobby Wales is another option for the Championship club, though he is regarded as a development player whose time may come a little further down the line.

Sheehan accepts that there is expectation surrounding Idah given that Swansea spent big to bring him to Wales.

"I think there would be [expectation] when we sign a player that's probably number one playing for Celtic and playing in the Champions League," he added.

"But we understand he is a player who has been brought in to enhance our squad and he will. He is going to be a really good player for us, there's no doubt about that.

"Right now, we bring in Adam but Vipi goes to another level. This is what we want in all positions."

A potential move to take the Championship play-offs down to eighth place would damage the competition's credibility, according to former Huddersfield, Stoke and Middlesbrough defender Tommy Smith.

The EFL board is set to discuss proposals to increase the number of teams in the end-of-season play-offs from four to six but Smith, who was promoted to the Premier League with Huddersfield via the play-offs in 2017 is not a fan of the idea.

"It's not for me - I think it suits teams who don't really have a chance to get in the top six," he told the BBC's EFL podcast 72+.

"From a credibility point of view the top six is there to be aimed at and you have to earn your place in it."

The play-offs were first introduced for the 1986-87 season where sides finishing third down to fifth were involved along with the team third-from-bottom in the top flight.

After two seasons the format was changed to be played out between teams finishing third to sixth in the second tier.

"To finish eighth in the Championship and potentially get promoted to the Premier League it just doesn't sit right with me," added Smith.

"Notoriously over the past years getting into the top six is tough and when you get in there after a long hard season it feels brilliant, so to make it a top eight it dilutes it."

Image source, Huw Evans Agency

Alan Sheehan says he is facing some "difficult" selection calls with his squad close to fully fit for Saturday's Championship game with Millwall (12:30 BST).

Centre-back Ricardo Santos, a summer signing from Bolton Wanderers, is available for the first time since pre-season after recovering from a knee injury while midfielder Jay Fulton is available after a groin problem.

Left-back Ishe Samuels-Smith picked up a groin issue in training this week, but Swansea are hopeful the on-loan Chelsea youngster will be fit for Millwall's visit.

With Swansea's squad looking more balanced than at any point in recent memory, Sheehan acknowledges he has some tough decisions to make when selecting his side.

"Obviously we'll pick a team based on what we think is capable of beating Millwall," the Swansea head coach said.

"It was difficult [to pick the team for last weekend's defeat at Birmingham]. [It is a case of picking] different individuals for different games.

"We have started with different line-ups. People have been in, people have been out. It's a very busy week coming up, but all eyes are on Millwall for now."

After Millwall, 11th-placed Swansea face a Championship trip to Blackburn Rovers next Tuesday before another home, game against Leicester City, on Saturday, 4 October.

Sheehan says sharing game-time will come into his thinking during the hectic Championship schedule.

"There's a lot of management behind everything we do," he added.

"It's not just 'he's playing, he's playing'."

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Lyndon Dykes' late goal for Birmingham City last weekend has left Swansea City with what has been a fairly unfamiliar feeling in recent times.

For only the second time this season, Swansea are licking wounds after a defeat.

The Birmingham loss was Swansea's first since the opening weekend of the season, when they went down 1-0 at Middlesbrough.

After the Boro setback, the Swans put together a seven-game unbeaten run – including three Carabao Cup ties – and Sheehan is looking for something similar now as the focus switches towards Saturday's home Championship fixture against Millwall (12:30 BST).

"This is the first time we have tasted defeat since the first day of the season," the Swansea head coach said.

"If we can keep [putting that sort of run together], that will be great - but we have to bounce back now."

Swansea have not lost too often since Luke Williams departed in February, with five defeats coming in 23 games since Sheehan took charge.

One of the losses was against Millwall, who beat Swansea 1-0 at The Den in April to end the Welsh side's seven-game, springtime unbeaten run.

Sheehan, who felt his team were worth at least a point that day, will hope for a slice of revenge this weekend against a Millwall team who are two points above Swansea in the early-season table courtesy of their win over Watford on Monday night.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Swansea City will discover their Carabao Cup fourth-round opponents when the draw is made at around 22:00 BST on Wednesday.

Swansea booked their place in the last 16 in memorable fashion with a dramatic comeback win over Premier League Nottingham Forest last week.

The Championship club's run is their joint best in this competition since they won the trophy under Michael Laudrup in 2012-13.

Fellow Welsh sides Wrexham and Cardiff City are hoping to join Swansea in the fourth-round draw, which takes place after the final third-round ties are played on Wednesday.

Wrexham are at home to League One Reading and Cardiff go to Premier League Burnley on Tuesday.

Fourth-round ties will be played in the week commencing Monday, 27 October.

Image source, Rex Features

Swansea City will be "a force" in the Championship this season having "drifted" in recent years, according to Birmingham City boss Chris Davies.

Blues beat Swansea 1-0 on Saturday as Lyndon Dykes' stoppage-time header settled an entertaining contest in which both sides missed several chances.

Davies used to work for the Swans as part of former manager Brendan Rodgers' coaching staff, and he almost returned as head coach in 2023 when the Welsh club sacked Michael Duff.

But after that move collapsed, Davies remained with his club at the time, Tottenham Hotspur, while Swansea appointed Luke Williams.

Davies then joined Birmingham, who he led to promotion from League One last season, and he has been impressed by the Swans' improvement under Alan Sheehan, who succeeded Williams earlier this year.

"They're a really solid, established Championship side," Davies said of his former club.

"I think the stat was in the last eight months, no-one's got more points than them [in the Championship] apart from Middlesbrough, so that tells you where they are right now.

"I think they've got dangerous wingers. They look like a Swansea team. Fair play to Alan, I think he's done a good job with that because they were drifting a little bit at times as a club .

"No-one's got any divine right to be anywhere. You've got to earn it every single game and that's what we have to do.

"From Swansea's point of view, I can see the improvement that they've made, and they'll be a force in this league, no doubt."

Image source, BBC Sport

Swansea City were dealt a setback as they were beaten 1-0 by Birmingham City at St Andrews.

What improvements does Alan Sheehan need to make to get the Swans back to winning ways?

And what changes to the squad do you feel need to be made?

Have your say here

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Getty Images

Had things worked out differently, Chris Davies might have been in the away dugout at St Andrew's this weekend.

Following the departure of Michael Duff in December 2023, Swansea City made a sustained bid to recruit Davies as their new boss.

At the time, Davies was senior assistant coach at Tottenham Hotspur, having spent the majority of his career up until that point working under Brendan Rodgers.

Davies was interested in a return to Swansea, where he was on Rodgers' staff when the club won promotion to the Premier League thanks to play-off final victory over Reading in 2011 (pictured below).

He had first been approached over the head coach job by the Welsh club's then chairman Andy Coleman before Duff was appointed in the summer of 2023.

For a while it seemed Davies would leave Spurs to succeed Duff, only for the proposed move to collapse when he opted to remain in north London.

Swansea, who had Alan Sheehan at the helm in a caretaker capacity at the time, eventually appointed Luke Williams.

Image source, Huw Evans Agency

Davies, meanwhile, remained at Spurs for the rest of the 2023-24 season, eventually dropping into League One to take his first managerial role at Birmingham City in June last year.

Former Wales Under-19s international Davies thrived as the main man, leading Birmingham to promotion – and the title, ahead of Wrexham – in his first season in charge.

The ambitious Blues further strengthened their squad over the summer, bringing in the likes of Demarai Gray, Kyogo Furuhashi and Bright Osayi-Samuel.

They made a promising start to this campaign, taking seven points from their first three Championship games, but have since lost at Leicester City and Stoke City and exited the Carabao Cup against Port Vale.

After three successive defeats, Davies will be particularly keen to get one over his former employers when Swansea visit Birmingham on Saturday (12:30 BST).

Birmingham will seek to get back to winning ways as Swansea head to St Andrew's on Saturday lunchtime (12:30 BST).

The Blues have lost their past two league games without scoring but have the longest unbeaten run on home turf in the country.

The Swans are seeking to make it five unbeaten in the Championship and also stunned Premier League Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup in midweek.

• Birmingham City are unbeaten in each of their past eight league matches against Swansea City (W3 D5), since a 3-1 home defeat in July 2020.

• Four of the past five Championship meetings between Swansea City and Birmingham City have ended level.

• Birmingham City are unbeaten in each of their past 27 home league games (W22 D5), the longest ongoing run in England's top four tiers.

• Since Alan Sheehan's first game in charge on 22 February, only Middlesbrough (33) have won more Championship points than Swansea City (32), with the Swans winning nine of 18 matches in that time (D5 L4).

• Birmingham have failed to score in each of their past two league games, last going three without a goal back in March 2024.

• The Blues have mustered the fewest shots on target of any Championship side in 2025-26 so far (9).

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Former Swansea City boss Michael Duff is back in football having been named head coach of Wycombe Wanderers.

Duff has been out of work since leaving Huddersfield Town in March.

But the 47-year-old has taken charge at Wycombe after the League One club parted company with Mike Dodds.

Duff endured a forgettable spell in charge of Swansea after being named successor to Russell Martin June 2023, losing his job in December of that year.

Image source, Huw Evans Agency

Kristian Pedersen has found a new club following his summer departure from Swansea City, with the defender returning home to join Danish Superliga side FC Fredericia.

Pedersen, 31, was one of a number of Swansea signings made in the summer of 2023 who failed to make an impact in Wales.

The former Birmingham City player managed just seven Swansea appearances across two seasons before being released in May.

Pedersen follows Cyrus Christie, who joined Bolton Wanderers, and veteran goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin, who is now at Middlesbrough, in finding a new club after being allowed to leave Swansea.

Of the senior players who departed at the end of last season, only the retired Joe Allen and Kyle Naughton, who also indicated he was likely to hang up his boots, have not joined new clubs.

Image source, Getty Images

Any Swansea fans hoping their team will catch new Nottingham Forest boss Ange Postecoglou cold could be disappointed - he insists Wednesday's EFL Cup third-round tie at Swansea.com Stadium (20:00 BST) is when his style will start to show through.

Forest's trip to South Wales is Postecoglou's first cup tie since he won the Europa League with Tottenham Hotspur last season, an achievement that failed to prevent him being sacked by Spurs just weeks later.

Postecoglou resurfaced last week as the new Forest boss, starting his reign with a 3-0 Premier League defeat at Arsenal on Saturday.

Having had little time time to work with his new players before the trip to the Emirates - a squad that includes Wales international Neco Williams - Postecoglou now wants to see glimpses of his style beginning to emerge in Swansea.

"It won't be months, it won't be weeks, it'll be Wednesday," he said when asked how long it would take for his methods to become apparent.

"I can't afford to waste time. This is not a project. This football club had a strong season last year, needs to be stronger this year, and my job is to get us to where I want us as quickly as possible.

"So (on) Wednesday night we want to start seeing some principles being embedded."

The EFL Cup - the last major trophy the club lifted in 1990 - is seen as one Forest could and should legitimately target.

Wednesday's game is Swansea's first meeting with Forest since they were thrashed 5-1 at the City Ground in a Championship fixture in April 2022.

Alan Sheehan's side host the Premier League team after victories over Crawley Town and Plymouth Argyle earlier in the competition.