High-flying Coventry City will be looking to make it back-to-back wins in the Championship when they welcome Welsh outfit Swansea City to the West Midlands on Tuesday night.
Coventry are currently fourth in the table, having picked up 27 points from their 15 league games this season, while Swansea, who have won three of their last four in the second tier, are 13th.
Match preview
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Coventry finished 16th in the Championship last season on their return to this level of football, and it would be fair to say that they were not particularly mentioned as possible promotion candidates this term.
However, a fine start to the 2021-22 campaign has seen the Sky Blues collect 27 points from their opening 15 matches to sit fourth in the table, one point behind third-placed West Bromwich Albion.
Only Fulham (10) and Bournemouth (11) have won more Championship matches than Coventry (eight) this season, and the hosts will enter this game off the back of a 1-0 success at Hull City, with Matt Godden's first-half effort proving to be the difference between the two sides.
Coventry have not been present in the Premier League since 2001; it would be some story if they managed to negotiate their way to a playoff spot, and the early indications are that Mark Robins's side could compete this term.
The Sky Blues have not beaten Swansea in any competition since 1981, though, and suffered a 1-0 defeat when the two teams last locked horns in Wales back in February.
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Fourth last term, Swansea made the playoff final and were one match away from securing a return to the Premier League, but the Welsh side suffered a 2-0 defeat to Brentford in the showpiece event.
Now under the management of Russell Martin, it would be fair to say that the Swans have struggled for consistency this term, winning five, drawing five and losing five of their 15 matches to collect 20 points, which has left them in 13th position in the table.
Swansea appear to have turned a corner in recent weeks, though, having won three of their last four in the league, including a 3-0 success over Peterborough United on Saturday afternoon.
The visitors will be determined to pick up another three points on Tuesday ahead of two difficult matches against leaders Bournemouth and sixth-placed Blackpool either side of the international break.
Swansea, as mentioned, have a strong recent record against Coventry, going unbeaten against the Sky Blues in their last 11 matches, although six of those fixtures have finished level.
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Team News
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Coventry's squad is in excellent shape at the moment, and having reported no injury concerns from the clash with Hull, it would not be a surprise to see the same XI sent onto the field.
Head coach Robins does have plenty of options for change, and Jamie Allen is in contention to start but could ultimately just miss out on a position in the starting side.
Tyler Walker replaced Viktor Gyokeres off the bench in the latter stages of Saturday's clash with Hull, but the latter should keep his spot alongside Godden in the final third.
Swansea, meanwhile, can also call upon a fully-fit squad for this match, with midfielder Flynn Downes fit again after a recent issue, so Martin has a number of decisions to make.
The head coach will need to assess his players over the next 24 hours before making a decision on a starting side for Tuesday, but it would not be a shock to see the same XI feature from Saturday.
Indeed, Olivier Ntcham and Jamie Paterson should again support Joel Piroe at centre-forward, meaning that Michael Obafemi might have to accept a spot on the bench once again.
Coventry City possible starting lineup:
Moore; Clarke-Salter, McFadzean, Hyam; Dabo, Hamer, Sheaf, Maatsen; O'Hare; Gooden, Gyokeres
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Hamer; Bennett, Naughton, Manning; Laird, Smith, Grimes, Bidwell; Ntcham, Piroe, Paterson
We say: Coventry City 1-1 Swansea City
This match has a draw written all over it; both sides will believe that they can cause issues in the final third, but we are finding it very difficult to predict anything other than a cagey and low-scoring stalemate here.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Coventry City win with a probability of 43.16%. A win for Swansea City had a probability of 29.61% and a draw had a probability of 27.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Coventry City win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.05%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.66%) and 2-0 (8.12%). The likeliest Swansea City win was 0-1 (9.54%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.85%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 6.9% likelihood.
