Swansea can build on solid start against Preston NE

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Although former manager, Graham Potter, has since left the club to take over the reigns at Premier League side, Brighton, he continued the style of play that Swansea have built their foundations upon and passed the blueprint baton over to his successor, Steve Cooper.

This has resulted in a solid start made by The Swans in the opening two matches of the new Championship season with Swansea recording a 2-1 home win against Hull City, and then taking a point off Derby County at Pride Park in 0-0 draw.

The hosts will therefore be quietly confident that they can keep this unbeaten run going on home turf at the Liberty Stadium when they entertain Preston North End whose form away from home has nose-dived in spectacular fashion.

Back to Swansea though, and the Welsh outfit bring a 7-match unbeaten sequence into this clash, and they’ve suffered just 1 defeat out of their last 11 matches overall in the Championship.

That loss was a heavy 4-0 defeat away at QPR but results at the Liberty Stadium have certainly been consistent and impressive.

Swansea have put together a solid 12-match sequence without defeat and have become a hard unit to break down in their own backyard. Notable wins during this period were victories against eventually promoted Sheffield United, along with wins over Brentford, Middlesbrough, Stoke City and Hull City.

Preston North End threatened to crash the play-off party in the Championship for a brief period last season, but they eventually ran out of puff. An impressive 12-match run without defeat from mid-January through to mid-March saw the visitors challenge for a top six spot but they could never break into the play-off pack.

An alarming slump in form has ensued though as Preston have managed to win just 2 of their subsequent 10 matches thereafter, with victories against relegated Ipswich Town (last season) and a 3-0 home win over Wigan Athletic last Saturday.

Incidentally, both of these wins were record on home turf at Deepdale where they lost just 5 matches last term, but results away from home have plummeted to a new low as the visitors have lost their last 5 away matches on the trot.

During this slump on the road, Preston have conceded a total of 12 goals and have scored just 2 in reply, so Alex Neil will be desperate for his side to halt this slide at Swansea on Saturday.

Swansea City appear to have the edge here then, and a narrow win could bring all three points home for The Swans.

Home team
Away team

Probability %

1X2

Pred

Correct score

Avg. goals

Weather conditions

Coef.

Score

Live
coef.

CH

Swansea City Preston North End 17/08/2019 16:00

453718

1

2 - 1

2.78

16°

2.12

2.12 3.35 3.45 -1 1 -1

FT

3 - 2(1 - 1)

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