Swansea City

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Mark Robins' claim that Stoke City were the "better team from start to finish" in Saturday's victory over Swansea City was a debatable one.

Swansea, after all, managed 14 shots to Stoke's eight, while the visitors' xG of 1.14 was almost double that of the home side.

The Swans had more possession (59.5 %), too, as they pushed Robins' promotion-chasing team right up until the final whistle.

So there were some encouraging signs for Vitor Matos.

Swansea played with more attacking intent than they have on many occasions this season, and appeared to have a little more belief on the back of successive home wins over Oxford and Portsmouth.

But even if there were some positives for Swansea in Potteries, the fact is that they came away from the game with nothing for the sixth time in the past eight Championship games.

As a result, Swansea find themselves only four points above the relegation places in 19th, with the two sides immediately below, Blackburn and Portsmouth, each having a game in hand.

Relegation concerns remain heading into the festive period, with the pressure on once more as Swansea prepare to host a Wrexham side who are in much better form next Friday night.

After that comes a trip to Coventry City, before another meeting with Oxford, a New Year's Day home game with West Brom and a trip to a Millwall side who currently sit fourth three days later.

There will be 15 points on offer in the space of a little over two weeks.

As demanding as some of their fixtures are, Swansea need to bank a fair few of them if they are to lighten the new year mood.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Vitor Matos said Swansea City must learn to "grab" games from the outset if they are to climb the Championship table following their 2-1 defeat at Stoke City.

Swansea competed with the Potters for long spells but were left to rue a sixth loss in their past eight games thanks to goals from Ben Pearson and Sorba Thomas.

After Pearson netted in spectacular fashion just before half-time, Thomas doubled the home side's lead on the hour.

Swansea made Stoke work for victory after Zan Viptonik pulled a goal back 11 minutes from time, but there were no clear-cut chances late on despite the Welsh club's battling effort.

"Like I said in the beginning, there are going to be ups and downs, especially in terms of results," said Swansea head coach Matos.

"What we get today is performance. Of course it's frustrating because of the result.

"What we need to take from the game is that we need to start becoming this team that from the beginning wants to grab the game for us.

"We need to become this team that wants to compete against everyone."

A third defeat in five matches under Matos leaves Swansea hovering above the Championship relegation zone.

While Matos was pleased with the character his side showed at the Bet365 Stadium, he accepts better is required as attention turns to next Friday's home game with Wrexham.

"We have one week to train and then we play Wrexham. That's what we need to focus on now," he added.

"We need to keep pushing and keep improving. Training helps a lot, I think it's the most important thing."

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Vitor Matos insists he is more interested in training than transfers as he continues to settle in at Swansea City.

Matos leads Swansea for the fifth time at Stoke City on Saturday (12:30 GMT) having been in charge of the Welsh club for less than three weeks.

The hectic Championship schedule means Matos has had only limited opportunities to work with his squad on the training ground.

And though the mid-season window is only 20 days away, Swansea's head coach says potential transfers are not his top priority at present.

"I honestly believe that more important [than the] transfer window will be how we train 100% when we are able to, to improve what we have and to make a team from what we have," Matos said.

"That's the most important thing and that will be massive."

After Stoke, Swansea have six days before they host Wrexham on Friday, 19 December.

They then have a further week between matches, with a trip to Coventry City on 26 December starting a run of four league fixtures in just nine days.

Matos, who is set to be joined by his backroom team from former club Maritimo next week, says the fortnight ahead will offer opportunities to focus on training.

"There will be a lot of games, but after the Stoke game we will have a little bit more time," he added.

"[Then it is the] Wrexham game, then we will have a little bit more time.

"So these two weeks will be important for us in terms of development, because we will have a game per week and then we go into the really busy schedule and that will be decisive for everything I would say."

Stoke City will look to get their promotion bid back on track when they welcome Swansea City on Saturday (12:30 GMT).

The Potters have lost five of their past six games (W1) to slip to eighth but are still just one point off the play-off places.

The Swans have picked up two consecutive wins for the first time this season, beating relegation rivals Oxford and Portsmouth, to move six points clear of the drop zone.

• Stoke have lost just one of their past 14 home league games against Swansea (W9 D3), losing 2-1 in March 2021.

• Swansea City have won one of their previous eight league games against Stoke City (D3 L4), a 3-0 win in April 2024.

• Stoke have lost two of their past three home league matches (W1), as many as in their previous 12 combined. The Potters are looking to avoid losing consecutive home games for the first time since September 2024.

• Swansea have lost their past three away league games, with each defeat coming under a different manager (Alan Sheehan, Darren O'Dea and Vitor Matos). They most recently lost more consecutively on the road in December/January last season (four).

• Stoke manager Mark Robins has won just one of his 14 Championship games against Swansea (D7 L6) but that did come for the Potters at home in February in a 3-1 win.

Image source, Getty Images

Vitor Matos reckons Swansea City must topple one of the Championship's "best football teams" if they are to continue their upturn in form at Stoke City on Saturday (12:30 GMT).

Swansea have partially eased concerns that they could face a long battle against relegation this season after back-to-back home victories over fellow strugglers Oxford and Portsmouth.

But Matos' team face a sterner challenge as they take on a Stoke side eyeing a return to the Premier League.

"Stoke is a brilliant team, for me one of the best teams of the league in terms of the way they play," Swansea head coach Matos said.

"They defend really well - they want to press, they have a clear idea how to do it. They attack really well, [with] different ways of attacking, sometimes with three, with [Aaron] Cresswell deep, sometimes using [Eric] Bocat in a different way, so they have a lot of variability.

"It's a team that can create different kind of problems with different players as well, and so we'll need to be on our maximum concentration and perform to compete.

Image source, Getty Images

"That's what we're going to try and it will not be for sure an easy place to go but we are really looking forward because it will be a brilliant game for us as well."

For all Matos' admiration of Stoke, Mark Robins' team will be looking to end their own slump in form when they face Swansea.

Having spent much of the season in and around the Championship's automatic promotion places, the Potters slipped to eighth having suffered a fifth defeat in their past six matches at Ipswich Town on Wednesday.

But Matos insists former Coventry City boss Robins has the experience to turn Stoke's form around.

"[He is] a manager that is really experienced here and in this league, so for sure he knows how to get them out of the situation," he added.

"When you have these moments, every game that comes is an opportunity to get out of it, so I think that's how they will see it.

"It's up to us to have a proper football game to compete and to show as well that we are here for a reason."

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Swansea City head coach Vitor Matos praised the "massive impact" of his substitutes following the 1-0 win over fellow Championship strugglers Portsmouth.

Tuesday's victory gave the Swans back-to-back wins for the first time since April and, more importantly, opened up a six-point gap between themselves and the bottom three.

Matos used his bench to excellent effect in the second half, as Zeidane Inoussa and Malick Yalcouye combined for their fellow substitute Liam Cullen to score the decisive goal with a sweet first-time left-footed strike.

"I think how we are starting to create this togetherness and this understanding that everyone will have a role and has a role on the team, I think that's massive for the future," said Matos.

"The impact of the bench was massive. We will need that for the future, 100%, especially for the upcoming games as well. And yeah, really happy for everyone, really happy for what we did as well."

Having lost his first two games as Swansea boss, former Liverpool assistant coach Matos now has two wins from the opening four matches of his tenure.

Both victories have come with clean sheets – following Saturday's 2-0 triumph over Oxford United – and Matos believes that defensive solidity is more important than the fact his side have won successive games for the first time this season.

"I think more than that is this one, the clean sheet, that we kept another clean sheet, especially at home," the Portuguese said.

"This kind of mentality, that understanding that we start building the things from the defensive way, I think that was massive.

"Of course, winning helps, but we know that we need to keep doing steps. We know that we need to keep improving and that there's a lot of things to come still."

Image source, Opta

Swansea welcome Portsmouth for a crunch clash at the foot of the Championship table on Tuesday (19:45 GMT).

The Swans climbed to 20th courtesy of Saturday's 2-0 win over fellow-strugglers Oxford United, which ended a run of five straight defeats.

They lie three points ahead of third-bottom Pompey, whose game at Charlton was abandoned after a medical emergency in the crowd at The Valley early in the first half.

Pompey go into this game having lost three of their past four games, both overall and on the road.

• Swansea are winless in their past 13 league games against Portsmouth (D8 L5) since a 4-0 home win in December 1960.

• Nine of Portsmouth's 14 away league games against Swansea have been draws (W2 L3), with their victories coming across their last three visits (2-1 in December 1983, 2-1 in November 2010).

• Swansea have lost seven of their past 10 midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Championship games (W2 D1), including four of their five at home in this run (W1).

• Portsmouth have lost eight of their past nine midweek (Tues, Weds, Thurs) away league games (D1), including each of the last seven in a row.

• Josh Murphy both scored and assisted a goal in both of Portsmouth's Championship meetings with Swansea last season (2 goals, 2 assists).

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Vitor Matos has quickly switched attention towards taking the "next steps" after claiming his first Swansea City victory this weekend.

Marko Stamenic's first goal for the club and a glorious volley from Josh Tymon saw Swansea claim a 2-0 win over Oxford United.

The Swans' first victory in seven league games lifted them to 20th in the table, three point clear of the relegation places.

They face another potentially pivotal home fixture against Portsmouth on Tuesday, with Matos hoping the Oxford triumph will give his team greater belief going into that game.

"I think it helps," Swansea's head coach said.

"When you build new ideas with wins, it's 10 times easier because it gives the feeling that you are improving, but it's just one step.

"We need to improve in a lot of areas on the game. We need to find the consistency, especially when we are in the second half, the ways that we need to control the game better.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

"It was an important win – in this league you need points that's the truth - but we need to do the next steps."

Portsmouth, who are 22nd in the Championship, saw their fixture at Charlton on Saturday abandoned.

The game was suspended after only 12 minutes due to a medical emergency in the stands at The Valley before being called off, with Charlton confirming a home supporter had died.

"First my words to the family - I think that's important to say," Matos said.

"That is something we cannot change. What we can change, or what we need to do, is to recover well and do everything we can [to prepare for Portsmouth].

"The departments and the club help the players to recover, [we] find the best XI possible and compete again."

Image source, Getty Images

New boss Vitor Matos hailed Josh Tymon's "brilliant" goal after Swansea City finally enjoyed set-piece success in their much-needed win over Oxford United.

Swansea were the only Championship team not to have scored a set-piece goal in the league this season before the U's came to Wales on Saturday.

But Swansea wiped out the unwanted record when Marko Stamenic headed them in front from Tymon's free-kick late in the first half.

They swiftly scored a memorable second goal when Eom Jisung's free-kick was only cleared as far as Tymon, who volleyed spectacularly into the top corner from 20 yards.

"It was brilliant - I just hope he can do it again!" said a smiling Matos.

"But yeah, brilliant goal. I think the goal is massive, but his performance was as well. He defended really good, stopped crosses, which is something massive especially in the Championship.

"He balanced the team, he supported the attack, he found ways to go to the last third as well, so I think that Tymo did a really good game and I'm really pleased.

"The goal was a really good goal, but it was the pinnacle of the performance, if you want to say."

Image source, Getty Images

Swansea held on with relative comfort in the second half to claim a 2-0 victory which halted their five-game losing streak and gave Matos his first points as head coach in his third game in charge.

Matos was aware of Swansea's miserable set-piece record, adding: "That was something that we've analysed before.

"We knew that we needed to improve set-pieces offensively. Scoring one and then one from second phase was quite important."

Swansea climbed a place to 20th thanks to their first victory in seven league games, though they are just three points clear of the relegation places as they prepare to face 22nd-placed Portsmouth on Tuesday.

Matos says he is unsure whether Josh Key will be available to face Pompey after the right-back missed out against Oxford due to illness.

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Vitor Matos says he hopes Malick Yalcouye will have a part to play in his Swansea City side despite leaving the midfielder out of his squad in his first two games in charge.

Yalcouye has not featured for Swansea since being sent off for violent conduct in the home defeat to Queens Park Rangers in October.

Former boss Alan Sheehan felt the Swans had pulled off a major coup by landing Yalcouye on a season-long loan from Brighton in the summer.

But the 20-year-old has made only 11 appearances – including five league starts – since joining the struggling Championship club.

When asked about Yalcouye, new head coach Matos said: "I see one player of the squad that like all in this moment, all of them, they need to make a statement in terms of availability and that's how it is.

"I arrived one week ago, [I am] starting to know them, starting to see. I need to make decisions and that's the decision so far.

"So I like him, he has a lot of qualities, a lot of potential, but in the end we need to make a decision and that's how it is."

Matos says that though Yalcouye speaks only limited English, he has been able to communicate with the Ivory Coast Under-23 international as he speaks some French.

"We like Malick. Malick has really good potential," Matos added.

"Sometimes it's about timing, it's about the number of players available in that position, it's about what you need for the next game, it's about the performance of the last game. There's a lot of considerations you need to have.

"But we also have different players that at the moment and especially for the last two games, I decided that they were more, let's say, the need we wanted on the team."

Yalcouye will hope to feature for the first time in nine Swansea games when Matos' side host Oxford United on Saturday.

Swansea are currently bottom of the Championship's form guide having taken only one point from their past six games as they look to end a five-match losing run.

Oxford's win over Ipswich last Friday ended a five-game sequence without a victory and keeps them one point outside the relegation zone leading into this game (15:00 GMT).

• Swansea have alternated between a draw (3) and a win (2) in their past five home league games against Oxford, drawing this exact fixture 3-3 last season.

• Oxford are winless in their past five league games against Swansea (D2 L3), coming from behind to equalise three times in a 3-3 draw in their last meeting in May.

• Swansea City have lost each of their past five league games, last losing more consecutively between March and April 2004 (6).

• Following a 2-1 win against Ipswich last time out, Oxford are looking to win consecutive league matches for the first time since January.

• Only West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield United (6 each) have lost more away games in the Championship this season than Oxford United (5).

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Vitor Matos says it is possible that on-loan winger Manuel Benson could return to parent club Burnley in the January transfer window.

Benson has made little impact since joining Swansea on loan for the remainder of 2025-26 on 1 September.

The Swans will definitely be without Benson for a spell following their trip to Stoke City on Saturday, 13 December after he was named in the Angola squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).

When asked whether Benson's loan could be cut short following that tournament, Swansea head coach Matos said: "[That is] not yet decided.

"All the loan players are always a possibility in the transfer window, that's the truth.

"Some depends on the club, some depends on the players, some depends on the mother club, so it's a situation that we are still to see."

Benson was not even on the bench as Swansea were beaten at West Bromwich Albion, though he did feature as a substitute in the defeat to Derby nine days ago, Matos' first game as the club's head coach.

In all, former Royal Antwerp player Benson has made eight Swansea appearances, including only one league start.

On-loan Brighton midfielder Malick Yalcouye has also been absent from Swansea's bench in recent weeks, the 20-year-old having not played a minute since his red card against Queens Park Rangers in October.

West Ham centre-back Kaelan Casey has made 10 Swansea appearances so far in his loan stint in Wales, while Chelsea left-back Ishe Samuels-Smith – the Welsh club's other loan signing – has played five times.

Benson is certain to miss at least three Swansea games over Christmas due to Afcon, but could be absent until late January depending on how far Angola progress in the tournament.