English Championship: Game Week 2
Stadium: Swansea.com Stadium
17th August 2024
Swansea City hosts Preston North End at Swansea.com Stadium in Game Week 2 of the English Championship. It was a perfect start for both protocols, coming into the season and comfortably entering the round 2 in EFL Cup. Who proves supreme after the 90 minutes?
Claim Your Welcome Bonus!Swansea City form
It was always going to be a tough opening day for a Swansea side that is now more settled under Luke Williams against Middlesbrough. Despite that, there was a degree of frustration felt in losing 1-0 thanks to a first-half penalty, now leaving Williams with a hunger for a reaction against Gillingham.
Swansea responded with a 3-1 home win where the visitors got themselves red-carded early in the second half. Gillingham pulled one back with ten men, a fact which must have frustrated Williams, and his team confirmed the win just three minutes later. Though Swansea ended last season with a 1-0 home defeat to Millwall until that final game, they had won the previous two against Stoke City and Rotherham United with clean sheets.
Predicted Lineup for Swansea City
Vigouroux; Key, Cabango, Darling, Tymon; Grimes; Eom, Fulton, Franco, Ronald; Cullen
Preston North End Form
The departure of manager Ryan Lowe has thrown a cloud of uncertainty over Deepdale, with Preston chairman Peter Ridsdale admitting the club will not rush into finding his successor.
After losing their opening Championship game to Sheffield United 2-0, Preston under the astute guidance of Mike Marsh as acting manager came good in another tough match EFL cup tie against Sunderland with a 2-0 victory over the unit. Mike Marsh, taking charge of the game after his boss was reinstated and led his charges to win the match with goals coming on either side of the halftime break.
This win ended a run of six defeats, so it might be a very important one in terms of their short-term aim of staying in touch with those above them.
Preston North End Predicted Line-up
Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Potts, Ledson, Whiteman, Frokjaer-Jensen, Brady; Keane, Riis
Swansea City vs Preston North End Expert tip
Ronald has staked his claim to start in the Swansea attack by netting against Gillingham, while the presence of Liam Cullen also came good as he scored a goal and is likely to return to the starting lineup on his own, with debutant Zan Vipotnik making way.
Preston caretaker manager Mike Marsh may potentially name an unchanged lineup from the XI that started against Sunderland, following the mass of changes after the defeat to Sheffield United. That would mean Stefan Thordarson and Sam Greenwood remain among the substitutes, with Ali McCann potentially back involved among the replacements having recovered from a calf problem.
Having overcome a good Sunderland team, Preston will hope to build on that victory. Nevertheless, Swansea has enjoyed a newfound stability within the ranks since the implementation of Luke Williams, so we believe the hosts will emerge victorious.