After a trio of long journeys, City return to the ProAmpac Stadium searching for a sixth game unbeaten as they welcome Swansea City on Saturday 19 September (3pm KO).
Read all the key stats, information and pre-match thoughts of both Chris Cohen and Imps defender, Deji Elerewe.
Opposition information
The Swans have started the season in flying form, with seven games under their belts, they find themselves second at this early stage in the Sky Bet Championship. Their most noteworthy success came when making the long journey to Pride Park and emerging as 3-0 winners, courtesy of goals Joseph Opoku, Ji-Sung Eom and Ronald Pereira. Their most recent fixture away from home saw them suffer their only defeat of the season so far when travelling to St Mary’s, goals from Finn Azaz, Cyle Larin and Leo Scienza cancelled out Žan Vipotnik’s strike from 12 yards sending Vitor Matos’ side home empty handed.
It has been a busy summer in SA1 with several incomings including Canadian international, Stephen Eustaquio, a man who featured in Jesse Marsche’s 2026 World Cup campaign. He joined the Jacks after a loan spell in the MLS with LAFC after four seasons with his parent club and giants of Portuguese football, FC Porto. He moved quickly to enamour himself with the Welsh fans by sealing an assist during his 25-minute cameo on debut in the aforementioned triumphant success over Derby County. The 29-year-old enjoyed his most successful campaign during the 2022/23 season, scoring seven times and turning provider for a further five in the Liga Portugal.
Someone who isn’t a new face in South Wales is Slovenia-born Žan Vipotnik, he joined Swansea City in the summer of 2024 from French outfit, Bordeaux. His first season in white saw him have a positive start to his life in the second tier, scoring seven goals but his Sky Bet Championship career really took off last season when the forward netted himself 25 goals and assisting a further three, earning himself the accolade of Golden Boot winner for the whole division.
Chris Cohen said: “They’re a top team, the manager has come in, and they’ve hit form in the last couple of the months, they’ve done incredibly well in the bits we’ve seen so far we’ve still got a bit more to watch but they definitely look like a tough team to beat.”
Call to fans
With the long trio of away games, there is now a welcome return to the ProAmpac Stadium with the last home game coming against Southampton, the fans were incredible with the largest crowd in decades. Chris Cohen spoke on how much the team will need them against Swansea City and Deji Elerewe spoke about the welcome he’s felt from the fan this season.
Cohen said: “The fans backing from the Southampton game was incredible, the noise was unreal even when we were 1-0 down, they played a major part in the shift towards the end of the game that ended with Mikkel getting his goal and they’ll be needed as always on Saturday afternoon.”
Elerewe said: “Swansea will be a good challenge and I’m looking forward to it but I also feel like we have the quality to beat them, especially being back at home with the fans behind us, hopefully we can keep a clean sheet and trust our attackers to score.”
Deji Elerewe’s thoughts
Deji Elerewe joined City in January from Bromley and featured in a minimal role during the Imps Sky Bet League One winning season and has since found himself as a regular starter in the second tier. He’s played every available minute in the league this season and with a string of impressive performances won the player of the month award for August. He spoke ahead of the clash with Swansea on how well his time is going at the club so far.
He said: “I’ve really enjoyed this challenge; the lads have been good and so have the staff, and I feel I’ve coped well. It’s helped being around the players like Sonny Bradley who has lots of experience and can help me through the games at this level.”
He added: “I’ve really enjoyed this new formation we’ve been playing; it’s allowed me to step forward and be more of an attacking threat. The backline, midfield and attack all defend together as a well-oiled unit, so it makes it hard for teams to break us down which is a key part of the success.”
H2H
It was April 2005 the last time City welcomed the Swans to Lincolnshire and emerged as narrow margin winners in the League Two clash. It was a tight game throughout with the Imps snatching all three points late on when Garry Monk unluckily found the back of his own net. There were just over 5,000 people in attendance that day to witness the triumph and over 21 years later, both teams are set to compete in Sky Bet Championship action with a crowd over double the amount that witnessed the contest in 2005.
Almost exactly a year earlier, in April 2004, City once again came out on top as Swansea City travelled to Sincil Bank in what was the final season where League Two was referenced as Division Three. It was the away side who took the lead just before the break with a goal from Matthew Rees before the Imps rallied in the second period to grab all three points, firstly with a goal from Peter Gain before the win was sealed in the 81st minute by Simon Yeo.
Match information
With the return to the ProAmpac Stadium, City will wear their 2026/27 home threads - you can get yours HERE.
The referee for the afternoon will be Anthony Backhouse, and he will be assisted by both Richard Woodward and Daniel Woodward and finally the fourth official will be Aaron Bannister against Swansea.
Legendary broadcaster, John Helm will provide the commentary for Imps+ alongside Chris Laming as the Imps face the Swans - check out your streaming options HERE.
