Preview | Preston North End v Swansea City

26th August
First team
Deepdale 2

Swansea City travel to Deepdale to take on Preston North End this afternoon (3pm).

The Swans head to Lancashire looking to build on the back of a hard-earned point against last season's beaten play-off finalists Coventry.

Preston, meanwhile, come into the game on the back of wins over Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday.

 

TEAM NEWS

Ginnelly Kuharevich Swans U21s Crewe

Swansea City will wait on the fitness of Josh Ginnelly as the forward looks to recover from illness in time for this weekend's game.

Mykola Kuharevich and Nathan Tjoe-A-On got valuable minutes under their belts with the under-21s in midweek, with the former pair playing an hour and getting on the scoresheet as they build-up their match fitness.

There are no new injury concerns for Swansea boss Michael Duff ahead of the weekend, although midfielder Liam Walsh has been able to return to training following a hamstring injury.

Steven Benda and Nathanael Ogbeta remain sidelined.

PRE-MATCH VIEWS

Michael Duff: “The important thing from my point of view is to see signs of progress from the things we are doing on the training ground.

“We have talked about being harder to beat, we have talked about being better at set plays. With the ball we can be loads better, but it’s about finding that balance between possession and giving up chances.

“It’s about that balance between the two. It takes time to implement things, you cannot create anything without time.

“It is a results-based industry, but we have only lost one game all season, that is the weirdness of football.

“You just have to keep working, that’s what you need to do.”

Ryan Lowe: “We’ll approach it the same way we’ve approached them all: in real depth of what we’ve got to do to try and get points because Swansea are a fantastic team who play some good football.

“Michael’s gone in there and changed his way a little bit. When they create an attack they want to finish the attack, they want to end up with something.

“Whereas last season Swansea wanted to keep the ball for numerous passes and open you out, but I think Michael’s got a different agenda. He wants to try and score as many goals as he possibly can and win games.”

 

REMEMBER THE LAST TIME?

Jay Fulton Preston

Swansea City could not capitalise on sustained second-half pressure as Brad Potts struck the only goal of the game to give Preston North End victory on the Swans last visit to Deepdale.

The North End defender fired in what proved to be the winner on the half-hour, with the finish coming via a rebound after Emil Riis had been denied by Steven Benda.

Swansea grew into the game, and were the dominant team throughout the second period, with Jay Fulton and Ryan Manning going closest, only to be denied by former Swan Freddie Woodman, while Joel Piroe also planted a header wide as the stubborn hosts kept their 11th clean sheet of the season.

PRIME NUMBERS

15 - Deepdale has not been a happy hunting ground for the Swans. Since securing promotion to the top-flight there in 1981, Swansea have won on just three of their 15 visits to the home of the Lilywhites.

66 - Jerry Yates has a chance conversion rate of 66 per cent so far this season, having found the net from two of his three shots on target.