Lincoln City will be looking to make it three wins from three for the first time in the EFL Championship as they welcome Swansea City to the ProAmpac Stadium.
The Imps will be looking to carry on their good form of late, with a return to their home turf becoming a major boost to doing so.
Perhaps another boost to City’s morale, was their 1-0 away victory at Bristol City on Tuesday night, getting one over on former head coach Michael Skubala, who left City this summer after two-and-a-half years.
Freddie Draper was on hand to capitalise on a Robins’ defensive mix-up to net the only goal of the game, soaring City to eighth place with eleven points from seven games.
Opponents – Swansea City
Swansea City, have also been loving life this season under Vitor Matos, with the Swans currently occupying second place after seven games, sitting on 14 points, the joint-most of any team currently.
An impressive opening day away win at Stoke City was followed by a stalemate with Sheffield United, before Swansea really got into gear with professional victories against Derby County and Watford.
Two winless games followed before they got back to winning ways with a commanding 3-1 victory against Burnley at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s fixture, Vitor Matos said: “We know which kind of game we’re going to face; we know it’s one of the best defences in the league, so they are in a positive moment.
“We expect a good game, a game that we also want to compete and to show that we want in our way to go every place and do a proper game performance.”
Team News:
Chris Cohen was on hand to deliver an injury report ahead of Saturday, saying that Tom Hamer and Callum Elder are “really close to being back.”
Cohen also said that he is hoping that Elder will be “in and around the squad” on Saturday to provide some morale boost for the rest of the squad.
He also gave an idea of the team that may start in this one, when the 39-year-old said: “We’ll make changes again on Saturday, I’m sure. Everyone’s going to be needed.”
There are no fresh injuries sustained in the previous week, and with the international break coming up, it will be a great opportunity for players to recover and regain their fitness.
Ivan Varfolomeev, Chieo Ogbene and now Andrei Coubiș are the Imps players to recieve senior call-ups during the international break, for Ukraine, Republic of Ireland and Romania respectively.
Credit: Graham Burrell
Head-to-head:
Saturday will be the first fixture between these sides in 21 years, with the last meeting taking place in the then-newly established League Two in April 2005, the Imps riding out 1-0 victors on that occasion thanks to a Garry Monk own goal.
Before that 2004/05 campaign, the previous twelve meetings between these two took place in Division Three between 1996 and 2004; the Swans only winning on three occasions in this run.
Overall, the sides have faced each other 56 times dating back to 1932, with Lincoln slightly edging it with 23 victories to Swansea’s 21.
Played for both:
There are multiple recent player connections between the two sides such as Coventry’s second-most expensive signing Carl Rushworth and new Colorado Rapids player Morgan Whittaker, but none have been as crucial to The Imps’ success than goalkeeper Paul Farman.
Farman spent six years at Lincoln, helping them reach an FA Cup quarter-final, promotion to League Two and winning the EFL Trophy in 2018.
The veteran goalkeeper has since had spells at Stevenage and Barrow, before joining Swansea in 2025.