Date: Wednesday, September 25 Venue: St Andrew's Kick-Off: 19:45 Swansea City begin their defence of the League Cup tonight as they travel to Birmingham City for their third round encounter.
Team News
Birmingham will be without loan signings Jesse Lingard and Kyle Bartley due to the conditions stipulated by their parent clubs, with the former being loaned from Manchester United and the latter tonight's opponents. Left-back David Murphy will be rested, having only just returned from a 10-month layoff with a knee injury. Swansea manager Michael Laudrup is expected to hand a recall to Neil Taylor, who has recovered from a dead leg that kept him out of action for a month. However, captain Ashley Williams (ankle) and Pablo Hernandez (hamstring) are unlikely to feature. (BBC)
Key Stats
Swansea have won just one of their last seven games against the Blues, losing four and drawing two. Birmingham have not won on any of the last three occasions that they have hosted Swansea (D2, L1). The Swans have lost just two of their last seven away games in the League Cup, winning five. Both of Birmingham's matches in the first two rounds of the League Cup have gone to extra time, with their second-round win over Yeovil ending in a penalty shoot-out.
Likely Line-Ups
Birmingham City Randolph, Eardley, Burn, Robinson, Elliott, Spector, Adeyemi, Ambrose, Burke, Green, Zigic Swansea Vorm, Rangel, Chico, Amat, Taylor, Canas, Shelvey, Dyer, Michu, Routledge, Bony Now click "Next" for our Match Preview
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
