Swansea City

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Vitor Matos says Sam Parker has shown he is a player Swansea City can rely on after breaking back into the club's first team.

Academy product Parker made his senior debut as a 17-year-old in 2023.

But after only three appearances, the Wales Under-21 international suffered a hamstring injury which kept him out for a year.

Having returned to fitness, Parker managed seven substitute appearances in the second half of last season but the right-sided player has spent the majority of this campaign on the fringes of the first-team squad.

However, with Josh Key and Ethan Galbraith injured, the 19-year-old has started Swansea's past three league games – and has produced three encouraging performances.

"I am really happy with Sam," said Swansea boss Matos.

"Clearly he is someone who everyone relies on now, which is really good for a 19-year-old who made his debut and then had a massive injury and took a proper knock.

"We are all really happy for him - everyone likes him a lot. I think he is taking steps and steps, really good steps. Hopefully he will have a brilliant career with us."

Matos says Parker, who could start again when Swansea go to Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday (19:45 BST), has thrived during a "tough run of games".

"Against Middlesbrough - a really good team - even though they don't play with wingers, he needed to control a lot of space around him and he grew into the game," Matos said.

"Then against Leicester, [there were] two really good wingers and he coped and again [against Southampton's Leo] Scienza. His confidence is growing, he is feeling much more comfortable.

"Defending it was one of his best games, and of course he offers a lot when he drives forward, he is quick and he delivers good crosses."

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Neither can go up, neither can go down, but there's more than pride at stake as QPR host Swansea on Tuesday night (19:45 BST).

Just one point separates seven teams in the middle of the Championship pack and a victory for the Hoops would end a three-match winless streak and could take Julien Stephan's side into the top-10.

Swansea are four places below Rangers, but just a point back, and could also jump into the top-10 with a victory, depending on results elsewhere.

• Following their 1-0 win in October, QPR are looking to complete the league double over Swansea for the first time since 1979-80.

• Swansea are unbeaten in their past six away league games against QPR (W3 D3), winning this fixture 2-1 last season.

• QPR are unbeaten in their past three home league games (W2 D1), though have failed to score in three of their previous five on home soil, as many times as in their prior 24 matches.

• Swansea, who won 1-0 at Leicester in their last away league game, are looking to win successive league matches on their travels for the first time since April last season, beating Sunderland and QPR on that occasion.

• Swansea's Zan Vipotnik has scored in each of his past two away league games; he's yet to score in three successive away league matches for the Swans.

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Vitor Matos says the appointment of a sporting director will be a positive move for Swansea City – and hopes the new recruit will be given time to "build for the future".

Swansea are hoping to make an appointment soon as they look to fill the void left by the departure of Richard Montague last September.

Chief executive Tom Gorringe and Adam Worth, Swansea's global head of recruitment and analytics, had assumed Montague's responsibilities in the aftermath of his exit.

But in a statement issued on Thursday, Swansea confirmed that Worth has left his role and that they are "going through a recruitment process" for a sporting director.

"Once we are in a position to announce the successful candidate, we will formally outline the club's senior football management structure in order to provide transparency and clarity for supporters," the club added.

Matos, Swansea's head coach since November, believes the arrival of a new sporting director will "help for sure in terms of structure".

"I think it's quite clear that at least when the owners presented to me the project, the idea is to improve and the idea is to step forward in a way that every department becomes more professional, every department improves what can deliver in terms of support to the team," he added.

"There's a culture that they are trying to build, we are trying to build as a club.

"I'm really happy with how the structure is at the moment, but it can always improve. I think that's the idea. And then it's about the right person to come."

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Matos says it will be down to Swansea's owners to identify the right person to take up what is a key position at the Championship club.

The Portuguese added that he will then attempt to create a "relationship working together" with the new recruit.

Montague (pictured above) lasted only seven months at Swansea having been brought to Wales in February 2025 from Notts County, the League Two club he has since rejoined.

Montague was a replacement for Paul Watson, who departed in October 2024 after just 16 months with the Swans.

Matos says it is "important to bring stability to the structure" behind the scenes.

"I think that's something that we all want as a club, to build for the future, not build for the next six months or the next eight months," he added.

"If you go across Europe, all the clubs change structures, [but] it is then what you do with that change.

"I think that's quite important for everyone to have that feeling that the club is going on one direction, is getting clear the direction that we want to go."

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Ishe Samuels-Smith looks to have played his last game for Swansea City after returning to parent club Chelsea due to a muscle injury.

Left-back Samuels-Smith was not involved in Swansea's 1-0 win at Leicester City last weekend or the draw with Middlesbrough on Easter Monday.

The 19-year-old, who has made eight Swansea appearances since joining on loan from Chelsea last September, is now back at the Premier League club receiving treatment.

Head coach Vitor Matos says the likelihood is he will not feature again for Swansea as they head into the final fortnight of the Championship season.

"He had a soft-tissue injury and his recovery is in the hands of Chelsea," Matos said.

Samuels-Smith has shown signs of his potential during his stint in Wales, but his opportunities have been limited thanks to the form – and regular availability – of first-choice left-back Josh Tymon.

Matos, meanwhile, says Zeidane Inoussa will not be involved when Swansea face Southampton on Saturday because of a slight setback in his bid to return from a long-term back problem.

Josh Key (hip) and Ethan Galbraith (calf) also remain on the sidelines as Swansea prepare to host the division's form team.

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Southampton will hope to continue their surge towards an automatic promotion spot in the Championship when they visit Swansea City on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Saints have won seven on the bounce in the league and are within just three points of second-placed Ipswich, who have a game in hand.

The Swans, who are 14th on 57 points, officially cannot go down, while a play-off spot is all-but impossible with the gap to Hull in sixth now 11 points with four games to play.

Vitor Matos' side have won just one of their past five games (D2 L2), though that did come last time out with a 1-0 victory at Leicester City.

• Swansea have won just two of their previous 16 league games against Southampton (D5 L9), while they have failed to score in 10 of their past 14 against Saints.

• Swansea are winless in their past two home league matches (D1 L1), conceding five goals across those two games; more than in their previous 10 league matches at the Swansea.com Stadium combined (4).

• Southampton have won five of their past six away league games against Swansea, with the exception being a 2-1 defeat in January 2017.

• Southampton are unbeaten in their past seven away league games, winning five of them (D2). In Tonda Eckert's first seven away league matches in charge, the Saints won just twice and lost four of them (D1).

• Swansea's Zan Vipotnik has scored in each of his past three Championship games (four goals), and could score in four in a row for the first time in the competition.

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Chelsea's Jimmy-Jay Morgan, 20, is being tracked by Swansea, Sheffield United and Preston North End among a host of Championship sides after impressing on loan at Peterborough.

The attacker has spent the season at the League One club, scoring 14 goals in 36 appearances.

He has a year left on his Chelsea deal and a decision on his future is looming in the summer.

Morgan joined Chelsea's academy at the age of eight before moving to Southampton and then returning to Stamford Bridge in 2023.

The Poole-born England youth international has represented his country from Under-16 level through to Under-20.

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Goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux says Swansea City must use their final five games of the season as a springboard for success in the next campaign, beginning with Saturday's trip to relegation-threatened Leicester City (15:00 BST).

Swansea are comfortably mid-table in the Championship, seemingly with little to play for, but Vigouroux says the squad feels it has a point to prove.

"I think we're a massive club. We deserve to be a lot higher in the league and we know that as players," he said.

"But I think it's building blocks and I think we started off really well with the new manager (Vitor Matos), especially at home. You know we're really tough to beat and now we need to translate that form away from home and get as many points as we can.

"Some guys are trying to earn new contracts, some guys are trying to build their way into the team, for example like Sam (Parker) who was outstanding on the weekend, these are the kind of games for him that if he does really well, he can then become a really really important part of our squad.

"So these are the kind of moments, these kind of games where you can get as many points as you can, leave the season in a good place and then you're raring to go for next season."

The 32-year-old Chile goalkeeper has experienced a similar situation before with former club Leyton Orient.

Like the Swans, a change of manager during the season saw a period of upheaval that ultimately laid the foundations for future success.

"It's so important because then you know each other's strengths," he added.

"I had the same when I was at Leyton Orient... a manager left in the middle of the season, a new manager came in and then we've done really well towards the end of the season, and then the season after we won the league.

"It was literally because we had played together for that last 10 games. He didn't make too many changes, there were maybe one or two coming in.

"We knew what we were playing with, who we were playing with, and I think there's nothing to say that that can't happen here.

"We've got a really good group of players that know their jobs. They know each other's strengths and weaknesses inside out."

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The EFL has announced the fixtures for the 2026-27 season will be published at midday on Thursday, 25 June.

The first-round draws for the Carabao Cup and the Vertu Trophy will be made on the same day.

The new season will kick off on the weekend of August 7-9 with the first round of the Carabao Cup, and the opening fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two will follow a week later on 14-16 August.

The first round of the Vertu Trophy will be played in the week commencing 21 September.

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Striker Liam Cullen's stunning effort in Swansea City's victory over Stoke City has been nominated for the Championship Goal of the Month award for March.

After Championship top scorer Zan Vipotnik had opened the scoring for the hosts, Wales international Cullen fired beyond goalkeeper Tommy Simkin in the final stages of the Swans' 2-0 victory over the Potters at Swansea.com Stadium on 7 March.

Cullen is up against former Swan Luke Cundle, now at Millwall, Watford's Nestory Irankunda and Southampton's Shea Charles for the award.

The winner - decided by fans and a judging panel - will be announced at 10:00 BST on Friday, 17 April.

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Vitor Matos says his Swansea City side will try and ignore the problems besetting Saturday's opponents Leicester City when they travel to the King Power Stadium (15:00 BST).

The Foxes, Premier League champions in the 2015–16 season, are now staring at relegation from the Championship.

This week Leicester lost their appeal against their six-point deduction for breaching English Football League financial rules and are a point adrift of safety with five games remaining.

"The only thing I can say is we are focused on preparing and that will not change the way we're going to prepare," Matos said.

"They will be exactly the same, what they do in terms of the game, 4-4-2 clear, one good speed outside-striker who loves to press - that is Patson Daka - pretty consistent in terms of structure.

"And then yeah, it's about us going there and trying to dominate a team that is fighting for their position in the table, and I think that's the most important thing for us."

The Swansea boss believes the game will be emotionally different from Monday's match against Middlesbrough "because of the situation Leicester is in".

He added: "But the only thing we're going to do is what we did until now, that is going with the mindset that we are going there to compete and to try to win the game.

"And I think that's the most important thing we want. Focus on ourselves, what we need to improve from the last game."

Swansea have little to play for in mid-table but will be keen to end a four-match winless streak, although Monday's thrilling 2-2 home draw against promotion-chasing Boro suggests the Swansea players are still focused on a strong finish to the season.

"Of course we want to be much more dominant than we were against Middlesbrough at home," Matos said.

"I think that's steps we need to keep doing it. Of the moment of the season we are now, it's not about changing a lot. It's about finding consistency on the right things and keep improving and building things, the values, the mentality and the mindset for the future, because that's what we want.

"And this is as well a brilliant game to do that because we want to compete, we want to have more points.

"It means to us to have and to put a proper performance in and I think that's a beautiful game to do it."

Matos said winger Zeidane Inoussa returned to training on Thursday following his back injury, adding: "apart from that, all the same availability for the same players which is good".