Baggies will be bouncing as Swans come to town

West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City; The Hawthorns, Saturday 31st August 2024, 3pm

After a strong start to the season results-wise, Baggies fans will be further boosted by the arrival of three new faces this week with Friday’s signing of fans’ favourite, Mikey Johnston, a wonderful way to sign off a transfer window that was a source of significant concern for much of the summer. Barring any unexpected late departures, I think most of the Albion faithful will be satisfied with the business done, particularly given the club’s financial restrictions, even though the squad still looks a little short up front.

Albion’s second home match of the season sees Luke Williams’ Swansea City team visit the Hawthorns fresh from a home defeat by Wycombe Wanderers in the second round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening. It is the first time that Williams will have led a team against Albion having been appointed at the Swansea.com Stadium immediately after the Swans’ 1-0 home win over the Baggies on New Year’s Day. Michael Duff had been sacked a month earlier with City in 18th place and, while they finished in 14th spot, there have so far been few signs that Williams will be able to repeat the success he had in his former role at Notts County.

Swansea’s season started with defeat away to Middlesbrough before they comfortably defeated Preston North End at home before a draw in the South Wales derby. Having beaten Gillingham 3-1 at home in the first round of the Carabao Cup, they were beaten at home by Wycombe Wanderers in round two on Wednesday, albeit the starting line up did have eight changes from the team that drew with Cardiff City. It did, however, include a debut for their new French forward, Florian Bianchini, who joined last week from Bastia for a fee approaching £2 million, while Slovenian striker Žan Vipotnik, another new signing who joined from Bordeaux on a free, also started having come off the bench to score his first goal for the club in their 3-0 win over North End.

Other summer signings for the club include Chilean goalkeeper, Lawrence Vigouroux, Portuguese midfielder, Gonçalo Franco, and South Korean winger, Ji-sung Eom, who have all started all three of the Swans’ Championship games this season. 21-year-old centre back, Nelson Abbey, has also moved to Swansea joining on a season-long loan from Olympiacos. The most notable outgoing transfer was that of centre-back Nathan Wood, who has followed Russell Martin to Southampton in a transfer worth £3 million.

Having named the same starting eleven for the first three league games of the campaign, it will be interesting to see whether Carlos Corberán opts to change things up with a few more options available to him for the visit of Swansea. New signings, Uroš Račić and Callum Styles will definitely be available while Grady Diangana’s shoulder injury appears not be as serious as first thought and he, too, could be available for selection. Furthermore, the return of Mikey Johnston to the Hawthorns on a permanent deal was confirmed on Friday afternoon although it’s unclear at the time of writing whether his registration was completed in time for him to play on Saturday. He is also suffering from a fractured cheekbone which would probably see him sporting a protective mask if he was to be involved.

Given the performances in the opening three games, however, it would be no surprise if the starting line-up were to be unchanged once again. As I’ve said previously, I felt the team was set up a little too defensively for the game with Leeds United, but it has looked balanced and in control for the majority of the games so far, and it would be harsh on any of the eleven starters to lose their place. There were also strong performances off the bench from Frabotta and Diakité at Stoke last week and it will be difficult for Corberán to decide who to leave out of the squad.

Being the final game before an international break, there may be some trepidation amongst Albion fans given that Corberán’s team suffered defeat immediately before each of the three breaks last autumn, but they did break that hoodoo with victory over Bristol City before the March break earlier this year. Expectations have definitely risen since the start of the season and nothing less than three points will be considered a good result, but we all know that anything can happen in the Championship!

History

The Baggies are enduring a poor run of results against the Swans with last season’s 3-2 victory in their first home league game of the campaign their only victory in the last seven against City. Swansea recorded back-to-back league doubles over Albion in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons having first done so in the Premier League in the 2011/12 campaign – the match at the Hawthorns that season was in February 2012 with all three goals coming in the space of five minutes – Marc-Antoine Fortuné gave Albion the lead in the 54th minute only for Gylfi Sigurðsson (55) and Danny Graham (59) to score quick goals to turn the match around.

31 players have been at some point signed to both Albion and Swansea with Kyle Bartley the only current member of either squad to have played for both clubs. Bartley spent the 2017/18 season with the Swans when they were relegated from the Premier League along with Albion and he made the switch to the Hawthorns that summer. He made only 12 appearances for Swansea including all their matches in their FA Cup run to the quarter-final and came off the bench in the Premier League game against the Baggies in April 2018.

Other players in recent years to have played for both clubs include Conor Gallagher who had loan spells with both clubs from Chelsea and Jefferson Montero was was on loan from Swansea to Albion for the second half of the 2018/19 season. Albion strikers Craig Beattie and Luke Moore both went on to play for the Swans after leaving the Hawthorns while Frank Nouble had loan spells with both clubs while he was at West Ham. Scott Sinclair, who is still playing and currently captaining Bristol Rovers, had a disappointing loan spell at Albion from Manchester City who he had joined for £8 million from Swansea City in 2012.

Des Lyttle, one of Gary Megson’s first signings on deadline day in March 2000 had actually played against Albion in the infamous League Two play-off semi-final tie in 1993. Another Swansea player in that tie, Colin West, who was sent off in the second leg at the Hawthorns, had moved from Albion to the Vetchfield the previous summer. Fans from those days may also remember that Carl Heggs (despite having no legs) moved to Swansea when he left the Hawthorns in 1995 following Kwame Ampadu, the father of current Leeds United midfielder Ethan, who had made the same move a year earlier.

Winger David Smith, who played for the Baggies between 1994 and 1998 finished his career at Swansea in the 2002/03 campaign while Robbie Dennison, one of a number of players who moved from Albion to Wolves in the mid-eighties, had a brief loan spell at Swansea in 1995.

For those interested in their club history, Jack Haines, a mainstay of Albion’s promotion-winning team of 1949, actually made his Football League debut playing for Swansea Town, as they were then known, against Albion in the first league match following World War Two in August 1946.

Stat Attack

Current Form

All competitions; most recent game on the right

Last matches

Last meeting

1 Jan 2024 – League Championship
Swansea City 1 (Cullen)
West Bromwich Albion 0

Last meeting at the Hawthorns

12 Aug 2023 – League Championship
West Bromwich Albion 3 (Ajayi, Rushworth (o.g.), Swift (pen))
Swansea City 2 (Darling, Wood)

Albion’s Record against Swansea City