Swansea City vs Preston North End. Sky Bet Championship.
Swansea.com StadiumAttendance19,352.
Friday 10 August 2018 14:16, UK
Swansea must solve their centre-back conundrum for their first Sky Bet Championship home game against Preston.
The deadline day departures of Federico Fernandez and Jordi Amat have left Mike van der Hoorn as the only senior central defender at the club. Wales Under-21 international Joe Rodon seems set to make his debut unless Kyle Naughton or Martin Olsson is switched into the middle by manager Graham Potter.
Declan John will hope to make his debut after arriving from Rangers, with Yan Dhanda likely to be on the bench again despite scoring the winner at Sheffield United last weekend.
Preston boss Alex Neil is set to name loan signings Brandon Barker and Lukas Nmecha in his squad. Winger Barker and striker Nmecha both arrived on season-long deals from Manchester City this week, with the latter having been heavily linked with Swansea.
Daniel Johnson is also available for selection after completing 90 minutes in a behind closed doors game against Fleetwood on Monday. Sean Maguire (hamstring) and Billy Bodin (knee) remain absent as Preston attempt to build on their opening-day win over QPR.
Swansea are unbeaten in their last 17 home matches against Preston in all competitions (W12 D5) since a 2-1 defeat at Vetch Field in August 1961.
Preston haven't kept a clean sheet in any of their last 23 visits to Swansea in all competitions - they last managed one in a 3-0 win in April 1932.
Swansea ended last season on a run of three consecutive home league defeats - they haven't lost four in a row since March 1991 under manager Terry Yorath.
Alex Neil has faced Swansea twice previously, both times in the 2015-16 Premier League season, winning 1-0 in November 2015 and losing 1-0 in March 2016 as Norwich City manager.
Swansea striker Oliver McBurnie has scored 10 goals in his last 17 Championship appearances.
Alan Browne has scored four goals in his last six Championship games for Preston, scoring on the opening day of the season against QPR.
David Prutton predicts: 0-1 (15/2 with Sky Bet)
