Tomorrow evening brings about another league fixture for the Swans this time at Deepdale, the home of Preston North End. The Lillywhites sit in sixth place in the Championship table and the Swans in sixteenth.
The distance between both sides is five points.
In fact going up one place to fifth and the points difference is the same. Yes there will be fixtures played before the Swans kick off at Preston (7:45pm) but it’s only Derby who can go above Swansea City tonight. They will have to beat Hull City at home to do that. It is almost inevitable that there will be teams above the Swans changing positions, however there are only a few fixtures to really look out for.
Charlton v West Bromwich Albion
Bristol City v Blackburn Rovers
Derby County v Hull City
We include these three fixtures as they will have an impact on the Swans IF three points can be collected tomorrow night at Deepdale. It may look like a long shot especially when league positions are examined. An extra point this season would have seen the Swans in the top half of the table and two would see them in tenth and right on the edge of the play offs. That’s very fine margins.
Of course dropping points is all about ifs, buts and maybes - but last minute goals against the Swans by Millwall, Birmingham City and indeed Hull City this season has had a big impact on league placings. Malick Yalcouyé is available for selection after his three game ban for a theatrical sending off against Queens Park Rangers and we will have news in the morning on Marko Stamenic and Zān Vipotnik. The situation with Zân wasn’t looking good on Sunday but we sourced an exclusive photograph of him seated in the away section of the ground with Malick Yalcouyé amd a source telling us he looked ‘fairly okay’ on his feet walking unaided. (Below)
That’s more positive news and hasn’t been reported elsewhere.
The addition of Malick with Ethan Galbraith, Melker Widell and Gonçalo Franco is a more than decent midfield, especially if Eom gets the nod. Speaking to a source of ours yesterday he was most certainly being employed on the left, but even a look at those highlights for Adam Idah’s goal you will see his fluid role.
We published a look at Alan Sheehan from the viewpoint of Charlton Athletic fans earlier today. What do you think ?
⚽️ Sheehan from the other side
Tomorrows game is crucial because of the progress that the Swans can make with a positive result, plus it will break the win one, draw one, lost one routine, in fact it will put it well aside. There is much to overcome though -
Preston: Goals: 17 (1.31 per game), Goals Against: 12 (0.92 per game), Diff: 5
Swansea : Goals: 13 (1.00 per game), Goals Against: 13 (1.00 per game), Diff: 0
On recent form (last six games) the Swans sit fourteenth in the Championship, Preston are sixth. Again the table reflects the Swans even closer to the play offs. Just two points.
This is a heavily congested table that can change on the throw of a dice, it’s now probably the reason that many teams who are passed fit for promotion to the Premier League can often come straight back down. Or even down again.
We will have a big game special tomorrow with all the latest news on the Indy.