Swansea City will overtake Blackpool in the
Championship table if they beat the Tangerines on Saturday afternoon.
The Swans are currently 12th, two points behind Blackpool in 10th; both clubs are within touching distance of the playoff positions.
Match preview
Swansea were convincingly beaten 4-0 away at league leaders Bournemouth before the international break, their heaviest defeat since December 2019.
Russell Martin admitted that his team have "a lot to learn" after the thrashing on the South coast, but they remain just three points behind the top six.
The Welsh side have not lost back-to-back games this season, so they will be pleased to be back on home turf where they have won four consecutive matches.
In fact, Martin's men have lost just once at the Swansea.com Stadium this season and have conceded the fewest home goals in the Championship (four), keeping clean sheets in six out of eight games.
However, only three Championship teams have picked up more points away from home this season than Blackpool (12), who have won their last two on the road.
Neil Critchley's side went into the international break with a 1-0 defeat to Stoke City and a 1-1 draw against Queens Park Rangers, but they have not gone three games without a win since August.
Last season's League One playoff winners are currently just one point behind the Championship top six, with a clash against third-placed West Bromwich Albion to come on Tuesday.
This will be the first meeting between the two clubs since 2010, when Blackpool won 5-1. The Tangerines are unbeaten in their last seven matches against Swansea.
Swansea City Championship form:
Blackpool Championship form:
Team News
Swansea centre-back Ryan Bennett received his fifth yellow card of the season against Bournemouth before the international break, meaning he will serve a one-match suspension.
That should allow Ben Cabango to make his first start in a month, having been left on the bench in the last four matches.
Striker Joel Piroe has scored four goals and registered two assists in his last six matches, so is the man to keep an eye on in attack.
Blackpool remain without Chris Maxwell, Shayne Lavery and Richard Keogh but all three are back in training following injuries and are not too far away from returning.
Luke Garbutt's ligament injury – sustained against Stoke City before the international break – is worse than first thought and he is likely to miss the next few weeks.
Dujon Sterling is back available after missing the last two matches, but he is unlikely to displace Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel at right-back.
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Hamer; Cabango, Naughton, Manning; Laird, Grimes, Smith, Bidwell; Ntcham, Paterson; Piroe
Blackpool possible starting lineup:
Grimshaw; Lawrence-Gabriel, Ekpiteta, Husband, James; Bowler, Wintle, Dougall, Anderson; Madine, Yates
We said: Swansea City 1-0 Blackpool
Swansea's excellent home record makes them strong favourites for this game and we think they will take the three points. Blackpool have proved more than capable of holding their own in the Championship though, so it should be a close encounter.
Read more.Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Swansea City win with a probability of 42.56%. A draw had a probability of 29.3% and a win for Blackpool had a probability of 28.17%.
The most likely scoreline for a Swansea City win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.3%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.64%) and 2-1 (8%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (13.23%), while for a Blackpool win it was 0-1 (10.95%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 13.2% likelihood.
