The reduced amount of action in the Sky Bet Championship weekend concludes on Sunday afternoon when two sides going in opposite directions in the table meet when Bristol City welcome Swansea City to Ashton Gate.
Bristol City are going in the right direction under Liam Manning and began the weekend as serious play-off challengers while Swansea have fallen apart at the seams since the turn of the year and will be hoping for a result to turn things around here.
Where to watch
The match will be shown on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels with the build-up to the battle beginning at 11.30am ahead of the 12 noon kick off.
Bristol City
After a number of years where they have floated around mid-table in the Championship, Bristol City will be hoping that this is the season where they can finally kick on in the final third of a campaign to secure a spot in the play-offs and the chance to attack a spot in the Premier League. They have certainly set themselves up well enough for that to be the case as they started the weekend just two points from the play-offs and unlike some of the teams around them, going in the right direction.
Much of that position is down to their home form where they have won their last four in the Championship at Ashton Gate and have only been beaten there twice in the league all season. The Robins have only lost one of their last eight in the league as well so they head into this match in decent form and if they can have a big week where matches come thick and fast they could really catapult themselves into the top six mix as we approach the business end of the season.
Swansea City
2025 certainly hasn’t started how Swansea City would have wanted it to. They have played six matches since the turn of the year and they have lost five of them and even the one they avoided defeat in, which was a 1-1 draw with West Brom didn’t offer up a huge amount of encouragement. Since then they have lost their key midfielder Matt Grimes who chose the Coventry project over theirs and although Lewis O’Brien has come in as a replacement, you do fear a little for Swansea.
This poor run of form coincided with the rumours that Luke Williams could be replacing Carlos Corberan at West Brom but now that has been confirmed as not happening the Swans would hope their results would improve. That hasn’t been the case to date though. Swansea have now lost their last four away games and conceded 14 goals in that time so they won’t need to search too far for where they need to improve on their travels at least.
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Team News
Liam Manning has confirmed that Cameron Pring is back in training but the matches over the next week will come too soon for him. Bristol City are also without Joe Williams and Ross McCrorie after their red cards last week.
Luke Williams has confirmed that deadline day signing Lewis O’Brien is fit and available to make his Swansea debut in this match if selected but there will be no Joe Allen who is injured or Harry Darling who is suspended.
Betting
These two teams look to be going in completely different directions at the minute. Bristol City are heading for the play-offs while Swansea City need to be careful that they don’t get dragged into a relegation battle. The form line in the home and away form here is even more at different ends of the scale. At Ashton Gate, Bristol City have won five and drawn one of their last six while Swansea head into this match having lost their last four away from their home ground.
The last defeat Swansea suffered away from home saw them concede five and that defence has suddenly come apart at the seams so it is hard to go against a home win here. Bristol City are finding a nice groove whereas Swansea haven’t just got their away issues to deal with but they have lost their captain Matt Grimes to Coventry. Swansea have conceded 12 goals in their last three away games so I think the 10/11 on a Bristol City win is fair here.
Tips
Back Bristol City to beat Swansea City for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
