Coventry City: Frank Lampard confirms what's happening with Haji Wright - it's not good | OneFootball

The Sky Blues are to be without their top scorer against the Swans on Saturday

Coventry City are potentially eight games away from ending a 25-year exile from the Premier League, with the first of those coming against Swansea City at the Swansea.Com Stadium this weekend.

The Sky Blues currently hold a seven-point lead over Middlesbrough at the top of the Championship table after neither side won last weekend, with Frank Lampard's side succumbing to a 2-1 defeat against in-form Southampton at the CBS Arena.

They now have the chance to respond to such a setback and record yet another crucial victory en route to the top-flight heading into the final international break of the season.

City's form up to their narrow defeat against Tonda Eckert's resurgent Saints had largely been immaculate, as they had won six matches in succession for the second time this campaign after a minor dip in results and performance levels at the start of 2026.

Many players had stepped up during their run of 18 points from 18, which began against Middlesbrough on Monday February 16th, in which USMNT international, Haji Wright, recorded a memorable hat-trick in front of a sell-out CV6 crowd.

The 27-year-old's individual campaign has certainly been mixed, having certainly found his scoring groove across two bursts, whilst also becoming the subject of critcism for a dry spell between October and January.

However, if the Sky Blues are to record a double over Vitor Matos' side in South Wales, they will have to do it without the Los Angeles-born frontman, with Lampard issuing a frustrating update in his customary pre-match press conference.

Frank Lampard delivers Coventry City, Haji Wright blow ahead of Swansea City showdown

Wright's recent hot streak of six goals in his last six appearances - barring being an unused substitute in the 3-0 success over Preston North End on March 11th - has also seen him shoot up the individual scoring charts.

Ironically, the only man in front of him in the Golden Boot race at present is the striker who will be hoping to cause maximum damage to City on Saturday afternoon in the Swans' Slovenian ace, Zan Vipotnik, who has scored 17 times thus far.

Despite his goalscoring form, Wright was omitted from Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT squad for upcoming friendlies against Belgium and Portugal after being replaced after 62 minutes by Ellis Simms against Saints.

As such, Lampard has revealed that the groin issue he was forced off with will see him miss the final game of March, but is also 'hopeful' his star forward returns to action the other side of the two-week fixture gap for the Easter weekend in which City have a double-header against Derby County and Hull City.

“He's doing OK, he won't be fit for this weekend and he won't travel to America to play the games," said Lampard of Wright.

When asked about who could fill the void out of Simms or Brandon Thomas-Asante, the City boss added: “Yeah, it would be an opportunity for Ellis, it'd be an opportunity for Brandon potentially. Brandon's played that role for us as well."

Coventry City will need Haji Wright fit and firing in Championship promotion run-in

Whilst it will be frustrating for Lampard to be without his top scorer against Swansea, Simms and Thomas-Asante have proven they are also capable of filling the void, scoring a further 21 times between them so far this season.

However, the most important aspect from Coventry's perspective is that, hopefully, Wright can make a swift recovery from his knock and be fit and firing for the eight-game run-in from Easter onwards, during which the club's promotion fate will be decided in some form.