O'Brien 'at home' in Wrexham before Swansea reunion

Lewis O'Brien says Wrexham has "felt like home" ever since he joined the club last summer as he prepares to face former club Swansea City on Friday night (20:00 GMT).

The midfielder spent the latter half of the 2024-25 season on loan with the Swans but made the permanent switch to Wrexham from Nottingham Forest before the current campaign.

"Since I've signed it's felt like home," O'Brien said.

"The lads are great, the staff are great and it's been one of them things where I'm really enjoying the football and obviously winning and being higher up in the league makes it a bit more enjoyable.

"It's a really nice place to be at the moment."

The 27-year-old attracted interest from Swansea among other clubs in the summer before joining the Red Dragons.

"I think there was a little bit (of interest from Swansea) in the summer and stuff, but I obviously chose the right place," he added.

O'Brien played alongside this season's Championship top scorer Zan Vipotnik during his spell with the Swans last season.

The Slovenia international has netted 17 league goals so far this term, and O'Brien admits Wrexham's backline will have their hands full when it comes to keeping an eye on the striker.

"He's having a great season, he's always had the quality to be able to do that," O'Brien said.

"There's a lot of strikers in the league at the moment that are firing all cylinders and he'll be a hard one to keep quiet."

Swansea's 2-1 victory over Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Tuesday moved Vitor Matos' men to within five points of the Red Dragons before the meeting between the sides on Friday.

But only Millwall have averaged more points per game than Wrexham in the Championship since the Swans beat Wrexham 2-1 in the reverse fixture on 19 December.

And while excitement among fans has grown before the second contest of the season between the sides, O'Brien remains determined to treat the fixture like any other.

"People can big up this game as much as they can, but I think we just have to see it as another game," he said.

"We can't have the occasion get too much for us or us think that it's a bigger occasion than it actually is.

"It's another game in the Championship - that's how we've got to see it.

"It's a Friday night under lights, it's the Welsh derby and everything, but at the end of the day, it's two 11s going against each other like it is every week."

Despite losing 2-1 to Hull City on Tuesday night, Wrexham remain in the top six before the fixture with the Swans.

And with 10 games left to play in the regular season, O'Brien says the Red Dragons can relish having their play-off aspirations firmly in their own hands.

"Results are crazy in the Championship and fortunately it went our way after the loss (to Hull)," he said.

"We've stayed in sixth position and obviously Hull are a bit further away from us now, so we're chasing them a little bit to try and secure the place in it (top six).

"We can only focus on ourselves really and keep winning games. If we keep winning, no-one can catch us."

He added: "We're all excited for what's coming and it's just one of them things where now we're down to the last 10 games of the season.

"It's the business end of the season and whatever's going to happen is going to happen but we're going to make sure we try our best to get the right outcome."