Rotherham United host Swansea City as both teams look to score vital points

Rotherham United welcome Swansea City to the AESSEAL New York Stadium in a vital game for both sides in their respective relegation and promotion challenges.

Paul Warne’s Rotherham will be hoping to build on their positive result last time out after beating Middlesbrough 3-0. A win against Steve Cooper’s Swansea City could well get them out the relegation zone should other results go their way.

For Swansea, they will be looking to build on their 1-1 draw with Brentford in the week and try to get a foothold on that second-place position for automatic promotion. The Swans boast the best defensive record in the league, having conceded just 14 goals, and they will need to be at their best on Saturday when they face red-hot Rotherham.

Team news

The Millers have been in fine form recently and Warne may opt to stick with the same side as last time out. However, new loan-signing Ryan Giles made an instant impact with a goal against Middlesbrough so he may well be in contention for a start.

Joe Mattock and Kieran Sadlier will still be missing for the home side, as both suffered substantial injuries.

Kyle Naughton will be the only new absentee for Swansea after seeing red against Brentford in mid-week, while Liam Cullen and Wayne Routledge are both questionable after missing out last time due to injury.

The suspension to Naughton could see Connor Roberts drop to centre-back with, former Miller Ryan Manning potentially coming into the midfield.

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Home manager (Paul Warne)

“Steve Cooper has done really well there. They’ve just signed Conor Hourihane who is a Premier League player, so that is an amazing addition. They have Andrew Ayew and Jamal Lowe up top who are two of the better strikers in this league.” Warne told the Rotherham website.

“They have a set style and recruit managers and coaches that suit that style, they have a real tradition of playing expansive football and are difficult to play against. He’s (Steve Cooper) a really likeable bloke and I think he’s done really well. I don’t think anyone would have expected them to be in the top two, so for them to be in that position is testament to what they are doing at that club.

“We’ve competed really well against good teams at home, we have to be at our best to come away with a good result. That is something we’re going to try and do and something we believe we can do.”

Head-to-head

Rotherham and Swansea have met 79 times throughout the years, with 25 wins for Rotherham, 25 draws and 29 wins for Swansea.

They have met four times over the past six years, with Swansea winning three out the four, one being in the EFL Cup in 2014.

However, the last time they met at the AESSEAL New York Stadium, it was Rotherham who ran out 2-1 winners, where two Ryan Manning penalties (this time playing for Rotherham) were enough to come from behind after Oli McBurnie opened the scoring for Swansea.

The Millers will be hoping for a similar result this time out.

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