Swansea vs Bristol City prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-03-18 12:30.
Swansea City part-owner Steve Kaplan made a rare appearance in the stands during his club’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of Millwall, their sixth straight game without a victory (D1, L5). That could be a bad omen for Swans manager Russell Martin, who received the dreaded vote of confidence ahead of that game and acknowledged he needs to “win a couple of games to relax everyone”.
With the impending international break on the horizon, he will want to enter the break on a positive note by improving on a run of two wins across Swansea’s last eight home league games (W2, D1, L8). The Swans can boast an eight-point cushion above the relegation zone ahead of the round, but with all the bottom-four sides picking up positive results in their games before the weekend, Swansea may be nervously looking over their shoulders if they don’t start picking up results.
Making the short jaunt across from the West Country are Bristol City, a side that sits five points above their hosts but similarly hold no realistic ambitions of promotion or real relegation fears. Robins boss Nigel Pearson said his side gave themselves “too many problems from the start” in a 1-0 defeat at Luton last time out, adding to what will be a concerning run for them of just one win across their last five games (W1, D1, L3).
Pearson now seeks to end a four-and-a-half-hour goal drought on their travels against a side he’s beaten only once in away league H2Hs (W1, D2, L3). Further casting doubt over the Robins’ chances is the fact they’ve won just one of their eight away league games against sides beginning this weekend below themselves (W1, D3, L4).
Players to watch: Swansea’s Ryan Manning made his tenth league goal contribution of the campaign last time out (G4, A6), putting him just one shy of his best-ever season. Bermudan Bristol forward Nahki Wells has gone missing along with the rest of the frontline since scoring their latest away goal four games ago, yet he has contributed to goals in three of his last five H2Hs against Swansea (G2, A1).
Hot stat: Swansea have just a 47% win-rate in home league games entered as favourites (W7, D3, L5).