Swansea City v Preston North End

Can we keep the unbeaten run going on Saturday against Preston?
Will Cooper introduce some of the players that did so well on Tuesday in the Preston match?
Players such as Ayew who scored two goals, Garrick who looked so good when he came on and almost scored with his first touch, and Wilmot and Cabango who both looked solid in central defence.
Whatever, we seem to have a much stronger squad than last season, and whilst he’s still here Ayew has got to play, there’s goals in him, especially at this standard.

I would love Baston and Ayew to stay as they could be the difference between a mid table position and promotion. Why not ask them to take a pay cut and stay? Routledge and Dyer did it and showed intent to resurrect their careers, which had stalled, same as Baston and Ayew.

Plenty of rumours of both players linked to a move. It will all boil down to finances and as we cannot afford to keep them, I think one or both will be gone. There’s still a few weeks left of the transfer window in Europe.

Swans 3 Preston 2
4 Shots on Target 5
78% Pass Success 74%
46% Aerial Duel Success 54%
3 Dribbles Won 8
11 Tackles 10
49% Possession 51%
4 Corners 9

Preston attacked us from the off and netted after only 11 mins, a speculative shot from Rafferty that Woodman was slow to react to.
First half we weren’t in it as Preston passed us off the park. Fourth min of injury time and against the run of play, a Roberts assist for Borja to slot home. HT 1-1
We were much better second half and it was only a matter of time before we scored and it was Byers, who had replaced the ineffective Kalulu at half time, who shot home on 63 mins from a Borja mis-hit that bounced nicely into his path. 2-1
Preston weren’t done though and bounced back with a penalty on 67 min, after Roberts barged Maguire off the ball, Johnson firing home. 2-2
But Swans were ahead two mins later as Bidwell lifted the ball over the defence for Borja to score his second. 3-2 final score.

I thought Byers made the difference when he came on. We changed formation second half and we looked stronger in midfield with Byers and of course his goal threat as well.
Ayew had a good game, replacing the injured Dyer, who will be out for a while with a hamstring injury.
Were up to 4th in the table with 7 points from 9, same as the start to last season under Potter.
A tough game coming up on Tues though, away at QPR, who humiliated us 4-0 end of last season. Remember Rangel going wild, like a man possessed, as he looked for revenge for being discarded by the Swans.

Ex-Man Utd Academy player, their number 4, Ben Pearson stood out for Preston as he orchestrated their attacks, everything went through him.
First half especially we just couldn’t hold on to the ball and the 49% possession statistic could not have been predicted with our possession based football philosophy.
Byers made the difference second half as we regained control of midfield, but there were still periods where Preston outplayed us.