Preview | Coventry City v Swansea City
Swansea City will look to end 2023 on a positive note when they take on Coventry City in their final game of the calendar year at the CBS Arena tonight (7.45pm).
The Swans head to the west Midlands looking to bounce back from their Boxing Day defeat at Southampton, with caretaker head coach Alan Sheehan and midfielder Joe Allen acknowledging the second-half showing at St Mary's was unacceptable.
The Sky Blues, meanwhile, have been on the up over recent weeks and are unbeaten in their last five games, recording wins over Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday so far during the Christmas period.
TEAM NEWS
The Swans have seen Nathan Wood, Joe Allen and Mykola Kuharevich make their returns from injury over the festive period.
Kristian Pedersen and Azeem Abdulai are also nearing comebacks from their own injury lay-offs.
However, Josh Key missed the game at Southampton and could be set for a spell on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, while Josh Ginnelly is a longer-term absentee.
PRE-MATCH VIEWS
Alan Sheehan: "All we can focus on is making sure we prepare the team as well as we can, that’s what we’ve been trying to do over these last number of games.
"That will be the same for Friday. We have been in all of the games over this recent run, but we have had one disappointing half, which we know was not good enough.
"We have to make sure that does not happen again."
Mark Robins:
“We weren’t playing poorly before.We were playing pretty well and it was just getting that bit of luck and confidence from winning games.
“But, also, it was about playing together more often and getting some training into them, and that’s been the difference and we have got some really good results.
“There have been some really good performances but some really good results as well. We are creating some really good openings but there is still loads of work to do if we are going to get to where we want to get to.”
MEET THE OFFICIALS
Thomas Kirk is the man in the middle for the game at the CBS Arena.
You can find our more about him and his team of officials here.
REMEMBER THE LAST TIME?
Swansea City produced a sensational fightback to earn a point and extend their long unbeaten run over Coventry City on a dramatic last visit to the CBS Arena.
The Swans entered the game having not lost to the Sky Blues in 13 meetings stretching back over 41 years, but that had looked likely to come to an end after goals from Jonathan Panzo, Jamie Allen and Viktor Gyokeres had put the hosts 3-0 before 10 minutes of the second half had elapsed.
However, Swansea rallied bravely and got themselves back into the game thanks to Joel Piroe’s sixth goal of the season and Jay Fulton’s acrobatic finish.
And they levelled with five minutes to go when Liam Cullen turned in the rebound, after Piroe had headed against the post from a Matt Grimes cross.
PRIME NUMBERS
3 - The last three games between the sides have ended with the points shared.
15 - Swansea City are unbeaten in 15 meetings with Coventry City stretching back over 42 years.