Preview | Charlton Athletic v Swansea City
Swansea City will seek to record back-to-back Championship wins and dent Charlton Athletic’s excellent home record when the sides lock horns at The Valley this afternoon (3pm).
The Swans beat Norwich last weekend and then gave a very good account of themselves in the midweek Carabao Cup defeat to Manchester City.
They take on a newly-promoted Addicks team who have made an impressive start to life back in the Championship, and who have lost just one of their last 20 home league games.
Team news
Malick Yalcouye is still suspended following his red card against Queens Park Rangers last week.
Marko Stamenic is on compassionate leave following a family bereavement.
Pre-match views
Alan Sheehan: “Charlton are a team that's built up a lot of momentum in the last year or so and a very difficult team to play against from what I have seen.
"They beat Ipswich 3-0 away the other day and they are in the play-off places at the moment, so we understand it's going to be a very difficult game."
Nathan Jones: "Swansea have been around a long time at this level and higher, so they’re going to be tough opposition.
"Alan was an excellent captain for me, he was a coach for me and he was set play coach for me, so he’s someone I know very, very well. It’s a tough league to have your first job in management and I think he’s done excellently."
Meet the officials
David Webb will be the man in the middle on Saturday.
It’s the third time the Lancashire-based official has taken charge of a Swans match this season; Webb previously overseeing Swansea City's 2-2 draw against Hull City and the defeat to Leicester City.
Webb is vastly experienced having been added to the National List of Referees in 2008. He took charge of his first Swans match in 2011 and has also refereed at Premier League level.
This will be the 24th time he has taken charge of a Swans game in the Championship.
On Saturday, he will be assisted by Callum Gough and Lee Venamore. George Laflin will be the fourth official.
Remember the last time?
Swansea City went back to the top of the Championship as Andre Ayew’s first league goal for the club since May 2016 sealed a comeback victory at Charlton.
The Swans had trailed after just 66 seconds when Jonathan Leko took advantage of a poor clearance to find the net via a deflection.
But the Swans hit back on 17 minutes as Yan Dhanda – restored to the starting line-up in place of George Byers – found the bottom corner via a Charlton defender.
And Ayew then turned in a corner on 65 minutes to give Swansea a first win at The Valley since 1980.
It was enough to see Steve Cooper’s side overtake Leeds and head to the summit of the second tier.
Prime Numbers
2 - Swansea City have won two of their past four away league games against Charlton Athletic (D1 L1), as many victories as across their first 18 away trips to the London side (D5 L11).
9 - Charlton Athletic have won just one of their past nine league games against Swansea City (D2 L6), with this the first meeting between the sides since a 1-0 victory for the Swans in January 2020.