Preston vs Swansea prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-08-25 14:00.
Preston North End continued their unbeaten start to the Championship season (W2, D1) with a 1-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday last time out. Boss Ryan Lowe was pleased with the performance, but with a number of key players still unavailable, the respite of the upcoming international break is surely at the forefront of his mind.
With Lowe stating he’s “got a points tally” as a target which he “hasn’t told the players,” a win this weekend at Deepdale could be significant, especially as it would take North End to ten points, which would be their best four-game tally to start a Championship campaign since 2008/09. Such an outcome would also make it three consecutive home league wins against Swansea City for the first time since November 1950, having won the H2H here last season (1-0).
Swansea won the other meeting last season, so they can now record consecutive H2H league wins for the first time since August 2010. Michael Duff’s men will be more focused on getting their first league victory under their new manager after a difficult start to the season (D2, L1), as the last time they failed to win any of their first four league games was back in 2011/12 – their first season in the Premier League!
Duff is happy to wait for the win though, admitting “it’s never going to happen overnight” for his new-look Swansea side. He called the 1-1 draw against Coventry last weekend as “a positive point”, although conceding first in their last five Championship matches is anything but positive. Halting that could be the key to recreating the form that saw them end the last league campaign with a nine-game unbeaten run (W7, D2).
Players to watch: Preston’s Will Keane has scored in four of his last six league games and is in line to net in three straight home league games for the first time since March 2022. Looking to upstage him could be Jerry Yates, with the Swansea forward directly contributing four goals (G3, A1) in his last two matches against Preston.
Hot stat: Swansea have conceded first in seven of their last ten away Championship matches.