Swansea City brushed aside League One outfit Gillingham 4-1 in Saturday’s 4th round FA Cup romp at the Liberty Stadium and the hosts will no doubt be in confident mood when they prepare for the visit of Birmingham City in the Championship on Tuesday night.
Former Birmingham City defender and former Ostersunds manager, Graham Potter, has enjoyed a successful stint at Swansea City so far this season as The Swans sit in 11th place and just six points adrift of the play-off pack, and the Welsh outfit are currently enjoying a great run of form under Potter.
Swansea City have won four of their last five matches in all competitions as the hosts have collected wins against Reading and Sheffield United as well as FA Cup wins over Aston Villa (3rd round) and aforementioned Gillingham (4th round).
The hosts have also lost just once in their last five at home in all competitions which was a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa but recent wins over the two Sheffield clubs, Wednesday and United should give them confidence here.
Swansea striker Oliver McBurnie (11 goals) is expected to start up front for The Swans while fellow forward Bersant Celina (4 goals) is also pushing for a start after notching against Gillingham on Saturday.
7 of Swansea City’s 14 home matches in the Championship have seen both teams score.
Birmingham City manager Garry Monk returns to his old club whom he holds the distinction of playing for throughout all four of the English divisions which is a rare feat indeed, and given the nature of today’s world of footballing transfers and fickle club owners, one that is unlikely to be repeated.
Despite his links to Swansea City, Monk will be desperate to see Birmingham City recapture their form from earlier in the season which saw The Blues put together a solid 11-match sequence from the end of August through to the end of October without defeat in the Championship.
However, two difficult away matches in the shape of Derby County and bitter city rivals, Aston Villa saw Birmingham lose both of these fixtures, but since then, the visitors bounced back with a recent four-match unbeaten run on their travels which included wins at Millwall and Wigan Athletic as well as points at Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday.
Blues lost 3-1 at promotion-chasing Norwich City last time out on the road but they still got on the scoresheet, and the key difference between this season’s Birmingham City and that of previous Birmingham teams is the fact that they’re now very capable of scoring goals on their travels.
Forward pair Che Adams (14 goals) and Lukas Jutkiewicz (10 goals) have forged an impressive partnership up front and has certainly been instrumental in Birmingham scoring in 11 of their 14 away matches to date.
The only thing is, The Blues also tend to concede on their travels too which has seen both teams score in 8 of Birmingham City’s 14 away matches so far this season.
This clash looks a very difficult one to call in terms of picking a result, but with both clubs possessing key attacking threats, the both teams to score option looks the safest prediction here.