Swansea City

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Swansea City must hope the signs of promise being shown under Luke Williams will lure fans back to the Swansea.com Stadium as this season goes on.

Williams' team climbed to within two points of the Championship play-off places courtesy of a hard-earned, but well-deserved victory over Watford on Tuesday.

The only negative on the night for Swansea was the size of the crowd.

Only 12,869 fans were present to see Myles Peart-Harris' goal secure the points, the lowest turnout for a home Swansea league game – aside from those affected by Covid – in five years.

Not since April 2019, when 10,459 supporters watched Graham Potter's team beat Brentford, have fewer fans turned up for a Championship fixture on Swansea's patch.

Since then, in fact, there had not been crowd below the 14,000 mark until Watford's visit.

Other than the Brentford game, you have to go all the way back to September 2010 – in the early stages of the season which saw Swansea promoted to the Premier League – to find a lower league gate than the one seen this week.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

There are mitigating circumstances. It was Guy Fawkes Night, kick-off was not until 20:00 GMT and the game was available to watch on satellite TV.

But even so, Swansea's hierarchy will presumably be concerned about the new low mark in what has been a season of relatively disappointing attendances.

It is not as if Williams' team are doing badly.

Yes goals have been at a premium this season, but Swansea have lost just one of their seven home league games and, given the limitations of their squad, are well placed in the table.

Their successes so far have been achieved by playing attractive football, too, so it would be hard to argue that Williams' team could do much more to lure fans to the ground.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Luke Williams believes his Swansea City side are developing an "identity" after successive victories lifted them to within two points of the Championship play-off places.

Swansea deservedly beat Watford on Tuesday thanks to Myles Peart-Harris' first goal for the club.

Swansea's first home triumph since mid-September followed last Saturday's away success at Oxford United, which had ended a six-game winless streak and five-match goal drought.

While Swansea remain the lowest scorers in the Championship despite successive wins, Williams says his side are showing signs of progress.

"When I look at the performances and try to look at the data in the performances – I know it's not the most exciting thing in the world, but that's what we have to do – and when I watch the games with my own eye, I feel like we are becoming a team with an identity," said the Swansea head coach.

"I think many of the games [this season] we have been able to make look the same. I think if we win more of those games, then we have a very good feeling.

"But I feel like we are going in the right direction and we are creating an identity where we can now establish ourselves in more games than not."

Swansea took control against Watford thanks to a dominant first-half display, with Peart-Harris sliding in his first goal for the club shortly before half-time.

They held on to win despite an improved second-half showing from Watford, with Williams' rearguard largely keeping the Hornets at arm's length.

"The way the players approached the game from the beginning – very intense, concentrating a lot, playing really good attacking football and very quickly destroying opposition attacks…" Williams added.

"This is the type of football I think is enjoyable and I hope it's more enjoyable for the fans when we play like that."

Image source, Getty Images

Luke Williams has a decision to make at left-back when Swansea City host Watford on Tuesday because Josh Tymon will be missing through suspension.

Tymon has been a regular in Williams' Swansea side but the former Stoke City player must sit out against the Hornets after picking up a fifth yellow card of the season in the win at Oxford United last weekend.

The signing of free agent Cyrus Christie last week means head coach Williams has a number of options when it comes to replacing Tymon.

Though he is most at home at right-back, Christie - who featured as a substitute at Oxford - has plenty of experience of operating on the left flank.

Another right-sided player who could be asked to fill in on the left is Kyle Naughton, while Williams could also turn to Indonesian international Nathan Tjoe-A-On or on-loan Olympiakos defender Nelson Abbey, though he is primarily a centre-back.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Wales head coach Craig Bellamy says he is "disappointed" for Ollie Cooper after the Swansea City midfielder was ruled out for three months.

The 24-year-old will miss Wales’ Nations League games against Turkey and Iceland this month having been ruled out until next year because of a stress fracture in his foot.

Cooper has played in all four Wales games since Bellamy was appointed as Rob Page's successor in July.

Even though he usually plays in an attacking midfield role for Swansea, Cooper has been deployed in a deeper role for his country.

"I'm so disappointed for him. I think he's really progressed as a footballer - there's different areas where you can use Ollie," Bellamy said.

"It's a real big shame but he needs to keep his confidence up because he's going to be involved with Wales for a number of years.

"It's a setback at the moment. But that's all it is - just a setback."

Wales will also be without Aaron Ramsey and Ethan Ampadu in midfield for this month's double header, but Joe Allen and fellow Swansea academy graduate Josh Sheehan have been included.

Image source, Getty Images

He may have struggled for game time during a brief spell with Swansea City - but now Viktor Gyokeres is the talk of Europe.

The Sweden striker, 26, has been linked with several leading Premier League clubs and on Tuesday will lead the line for Sporting against Manchester City in the Champions League.

Since moving to Lisbon in 2023 he has scored 63 goals in 66 matches, and 20 in only 16 this season - a far cry from his time in Wales during the 2020-21 season when he scored just once in 12 games.

Gyokeres began his career with IF Brommapojkarna in Sweden, leaving in 2017 to spend three unsuccesful seasons with Brighton and Hove Albion during which time he had his brief spell in Wales.

Swansea agreed a season-long loan for the then 22-year-old Swede in October 2020, but he was recalled by his Premier League club in January.

Gyokeres started just three games in all competitions for the Swans, making a further nine substitute appearances.

His only goal came in his final outing for the Welsh club, scoring during a 2-0 FA Cup win at League Two Stevenage.

Swansea at the time were second in the Championship under Steve Cooper, who explained the reasons behind Gyokeres' departure.

"Brighton wanted to recall him, that happened a couple of days ago and he has said his goodbyes," said Cooper in January 2021.

"I have to say he is a really good guy, and there is a good player in there.

"I think it was a loan that came a bit later than what everyone wanted. He had some bad luck picking up Covid on international duty too.

"He was happy here, but he wanted to play more football."

Having left Swansea he was quickly back out on loan at Coventry City, subsequently spending two years with the Sky Blues where he scored 39 goals for the Championship side.

The move to Portugal followed for an undisclosed eight-figure fee, and it is fair to say his next price tag may well be among the highest for any player who has previously donned a Swans shirt.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Swansea City striker Zan Vipotnik says he felt he was not doing his job well enough before ending his - and the team's - long goal drought at Oxford.

The Slovenia international ended Swansea's 563-minute run without scoring by netting in the first half of Saturday's 2-1 win, his first goal since 17 August.

Florian Bianchini then grabbed his first goal for the club, before Oxford pulled one back to make Swansea work hard for their first win in seven games.

"First of all, I was so happy for the team - we really deserved the win," said Vipotnik.

"The fans were amazing. We heard them almost all the game. From the first minute to the 95th.

"And I was thankful I scored. Of course, I was feeling pressure. As a striker, it's not easy when the team doesn't score and I don't. It's mentally tough."

The Swans' goals at the Kassam Stadium were the first they had scored since their 1-1 home draw with Bristol City on 29 September.

And the barren run ended just one game short of a club-record-equalling six successive league matches.

"We train every day to score goals [but] they were not here," added Vipotnik.

"It's tough for me. I know my teammates want to give me the ball to score goals. I'm here for that. I didn't do my job well, and I hope this goal will help the team and me also."

Vipotnik says he has found it tough adjusting to life in the Championship after his summer move to Swansea.

The 22-year-old joined the Welsh club on a four-year deal following the mutual termination of his contract with French side Bordeaux.

Saturday's goal was only his second for the club, ending a run of 11 league and cup appearances without finding the net.

Vipotnik hopes he can now go on a goalscoring run, starting with Tuesday's home game against Watford, as he settles into life in Swansea.

"At the beginning it's always difficult when you move from one country to another, as football's not the same in every country," he said.

"At the moment I feel really good. I've been training well, and I hope the goal will help me to settle more. I hope to [continue] with this form.

"My family are happy here. We love it here - being near the sea and the beaches - even though the rain and wind is tough."

He is also learning some of the fans' stadium songs, although not the Welsh ones like Hymns and Arias.

"Welsh is too hard for me - I will do the English ones," he added.

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

The Swansea City history book can go back on the shelf unedited after Luke Williams’ class of 2024-25 avoided the need to add a new line.

Zan Viptotnik and Florian Bianchini found the target at Oxford United as Swansea’s run without a goal ended one game short of a club-record-equalling six successive league matches.

The joy of scoring at the Kassam Stadium was mixed with relief, with a weight lifted off Swansea’s collective shoulders now their barren run is over.

Williams would not have cared who scored, but the fact that two forward players who have struggled in the early months of the season found the target will make the goals a little sweeter for Swansea’s head coach.

He has had little choice but to back the players at his disposal, because to come out and criticise their wastefulness in recent weeks would almost certainly have been counter-productive.

But privately, too, he has insisted Vipotnik has the tools to score goals regularly in the Championship, while suggesting the Slovenian just needs time to come to terms with the tempo of the English second tier.

While he still has plenty of room for improvement, former Bordeaux striker Vipotnik has looked more at home in his last couple of games.

It was no shock, therefore, to see him turn up in the right place at the right time to sweep Swansea in front at Oxford.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Bianchini, too, should benefit from an injection of confidence after enjoying a much better week.

Signed as a winger, the pacy Frenchman has had little impact out wide thus far in Swansea colours.

But after coming on as a substitute to play up front against Millwall last weekend, Bianchini showed some better signs as he twice came close to scoring.

And having been given another run from the bench as a central striker at Oxford, he supplied a cool, precise finish which ultimately proved critical after Dane Scarlett’s late riposte for the home side.

They were only two goals after a miserable dry spell, and it was only one win for Williams’ team after a difficult run.

But the Oxford triumph was much more like it for Swansea, as they got proper reward for their control of a game.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Swansea City midfielder Jay Fulton is to be sidelined until the November international break because of a calf injury.

Fulton, 30, has made nine appearances this season but was not involved in Saturday’s 2-1 win at Oxford United.

“Jay has picked up an injury, just in straight-line running,” said Swansea head coach Luke Williams.

“He is going to need a period to heal, he is going to be sidelined probably for a couple of weeks.”

Fulton’s injury is part of a double setback for Swansea after they lost Ollie Cooper, though the latter’s problem is more serious.

Williams’ side host Watford on Tuesday and go to Burnley on Sunday, 10 November.

They return to action with a home game against Leeds on Sunday, 24 November, when Fulton will hope to be back available.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Luke Williams felt finding a clinical edge – at last – was key to Swansea City's victory at Oxford United.

Swansea scored for the first time since September as they wiped out Oxford’s unbeaten home record in 2024-25.

Striker Zan Vipotnik ended Swansea's long wait for a goal before half-time.

Fellow August recruit Florian Bianchini scored what proved to be the winner on 80 minutes, the Frenchman finding the target for the first time in English football after he latched on to Goncalo Franco’s pass.

Dane Scarlett pulled one goal back for Oxford as Swansea survived a late scare to hold on for their second away win of the season.

"I think it's a performance similar to many of the others [this season] if I am honest," said Swansea head coach Williams.

"It's probably our best away performance for 90 minutes, but I think we have performed at a similar level. Today we were more clinical in front of goal."

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Vipotnik's goal was just his second in a Swansea shirt, with the Slovenia international starting to look like a player coming to terms with the pace and intensity of the Championship.

Bianchini, meanwhile, has had his best week in a Swansea shirt having twice come off the bench to play as a centre-forward rather than out wide.

"I am very pleased with the manner in which we scored the goals," Williams added.

"They are proper striker's goals - a tap-in where you have to make sure you don't tense up, then a one-v-one [which was] very well struck. You have to hold your nerve."

Swansea do not have any time to celebrate the Oxford win, with attention immediately switching to Tuesday’s home game against Watford.

"I have been asked a lot, correctly, about goals," Williams said.

"We have scored two away from home so the players have risen to the challenge. The next challenge is to maintain their level of performance and continue to score goals."

Image source, Getty Images

Head coach Luke Williams says there has been plenty of interest in the vacant sporting director role at Swansea City following the departure of Paul Watson.

Watson left the Championship club just over three weeks ago after just 16 months in the role.

Swansea chairman Andy Coleman (above) has refused to discuss Watson’s exit with the media, but is understood to be the leading the search for a replacement alongside chief of staff Ken Gude.

When asked whether Swansea have made any progress in their bid to find Watson’s successor, Williams said: “I know there are many, many applicants.

“There’s a process to follow to shorten down that list and then in the very near future people will be interviewed for the role and we go from there.”

Image source, Getty Images

Swansea City's 1-0 defeat at home to Millwall last weekend extended their barren run without a goal to 525 minutes of football.

It is no secret that goals have been a problem for the Swans this season, their tally of eight in 12 league games is the lowest return of any side in the Championship.

Their last goal came against Bristol City on 29 September and if Luke Williams' side fail to find the net again at Oxford United on Saturday, they will equal a 28-year-old club record of six league matches without a goal.

The 1995-96 season was one to forget for Swansea fans, as the club were relegated to what is now known as EFL League Two.

The record began on 6 February 1996.

Former Manchester United and Arsenal goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer was in temporary charge following the resignation of Bobby Smith in December 1995.

Rimmer's Swans suffered a 3-0 home defeat to Stockport County and days later the club infamously appointed Kevin Cullis (pictured above) as manager.

Cullis had never played or coached in professional football, yet controversially found himself in charge at Swansea. The Englishman's only previous management experience was as the youth coach of non-league club Cradley Town.

Cullis' reign lasted all of two games. In his second and final match, Swansea were beaten 4-0 by Blackpool at Bloomfield Road on 13 February 1996.

After a disastrous first half display, Cullis’ planned half-time team talk was ignored by the players, with defender Christian Edwards delivering the second half instructions instead.

Shortly after the full-time whistle Cullis resigned from his position as manager.

Swansea returned to action less than four days later to face Hull City at the Vetch Field, with Rimmer back in the dugout for a second stint as caretaker boss.

However, Rimmer's return could not change Swansea's fortunes in front of goal. After a goalless draw with the Tigers, the Swans were beaten 3-0 by Carlisle United at Brunton Park.

On 22 February 1996, Swansea announced the arrival of Liverpool legend Jan Molby as player-manager.

Although his appointment would provide the Swans with much needed stability, the Danish midfielder's first game in charge would be a 0-0 draw at York City, extending Swansea's goalless run to what is now that club record six league games.

Three days later Steve Torpey broke the 624-minute goal drought with a superb strike after 36 minutes as Molby's side beat Walsall 2-1, only their second win in 18 games.

With the current squad looking to end a six-game winless streak, history is not on their side as they travel to face newly promoted opponents at the Kassam Stadium this weekend.

The venue has not been a happy hunting ground over recent years, with Oxford proving tricky customers for the Swans.

Famously, former Rangers and Leeds United winger Kemar Roofe scored twice as League Two Oxford knocked Premier League Swansea out of the FA Cup in 2016.

And Russell Martin's Swansea side found themselves on the end of another cup defeat at Oxford, squandering a two-goal lead to exit the EFL Cup on penalties in 2022.

Will Williams' current batch of Swans join the wrong side of the club's history come Saturday evening?

Image source, Getty Images

Luke Williams says Swansea City failed in a bid to sign Siriki Dembele over the summer, with the winger instead joining Oxford United.

Dembele, 28, signed for Oxford at the end of August, with the U’s paying Birmingham City an undisclosed fee – which was reported to be in the region of £1m – for the former Bournemouth and Peterborough player.

Swansea were linked with Dembele at the time and Williams, who was keen to sign a wide player before the August deadline, says he was on their list.

"There was [truth in the links]," Swansea’s head coach said.

"We weren’t able to reach a deal. I think is a very good player, a very accomplished player."

Asked whether Swansea had been outdone financially by Oxford, who are back in the second tier this season for the first time in 25 years, Williams added: "I can’t tell you what they offered him because I don’t know.

"Maybe the player just preferred the club or the manager. But I know we were not in the running in the end."

Williams says he is “very fond” of another of Oxford’s attacking players, Ruben Rodrigues, having worked with him at Notts County.

He is also an admirer of United’s former Swansea loanee Josh McEachran, who he coached at MK Dons.

But there seems unlikely to be a reunion with Prezmyslaw Placheta when Swansea go to Oxford on Saturday, with the Polish winger struggling with injury.

"I know there are some very high-quality players there," Williams said.

"They are a good example of a club being well run and coping with the step up in level very well."

Image source, Getty Images

Luke Williams says Swansea City are in talks with Cyrus Christie – and club great Wayne Routledge, who is his advisor - over a potential deal for the free-agent defender.

Christie, who has been without a club since leaving Hull City at the end of last season, has been training with Swansea for most of October.

The 32-year-old has done enough to convince Williams that he is worthy of a contract, but it is now a question of whether terms can be agreed.

A key player in the negotiations is Routledge, who scored 33 goals in 305 appearances over 10 years at Swansea before his retirement in 2021.

"We are talking with Cyrus and to his agent, who is somebody we are very fond of, Mr Routledge," Swansea head coach Williams said.

"We are trying to speak to Cyrus and Wayne to make sure we get two happy parties and then we’ll see."

Christie played 23 Swansea games – and scored three goals – in the second half of 2021-22 after signing on loan from Fulham.

In all the Republic of Ireland international has made 455 senior club appearances, scoring 14 goals.

Williams views Christie as a player who can offer cover anywhere across Swansea’s backline.

"Cyrus has been great," he added.

"Everyone who knows him before is really fond of him, so hopefully we can get something done."