Swansea vs Coventry prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-08-18 14:00.
The signing of Dutch defender Nathan Tjoe-A-On will be welcome news for the Swansea City faithful after their side put in a calamitous defensive display in a 3-2 defeat to West Brom at the weekend. Swans boss Michael Duff lamented that his side didn’t play “with any purpose” until they were 3-0 down, a worrying emerging trend considering they’ve conceded the opening goal in both of their league games this season (D1, L1).
That one-point return is curiously the third straight season in which they had drawn one and lost one of their opening two league games. They did win at the third time of asking last time around, so they’ll be hoping for a repeat here in front of their own fans, an outcome that may well be expected after putting together an impressive seven-game unbeaten run of competitive home games ahead of this clash (W5, D2).
Looking to extend Swansea’s sorry start are Coventry City, last season’s losing play-off finalists who head into this on the back of a stunning 3-0 win over the side they faced in the semi-finals, Middlesbrough. Their defeat of Middlesbrough buried the disappointment of consecutive 2-1 defeats to Leicester (Championship) and Wimbledon (EFL Cup), whilst arguably sending a message to the division's other teams about their intentions despite the loss of key players this summer such as recent departure Gustavo Hamer.
His departure means the scorers of more than half (30) of Coventry’s 58 goals from last Championship season have left, so question marks remain around where the bulk of those goals will be coming from this time around. Mark Robins will hope to recapture the form that saw his Sky Blues put together a ten-game unbeaten run (W5, D5) of away games to end last season, yet failure to do so leaves them at risk of notching a 3+ game losing run on the road for the first time since February.
Key battle: Swansea defender Harry Darling contributed to both goals in their unsuccessful comeback last weekend (G1, A1), but he may be more concerned about keeping Coventry at bay here. It was a swift left, right, goodnight from Haji Wright as he got off the mark for Coventry within five minutes of his introduction against Boro, a performance which may well earn him a full league debut here.
Hot streak: Coventry boss Mark Robins has faced no other side as often as Swansea without ever winning (D5, L5).