Swansea vs Hull preview
Thursday 2 April 2020 11:43, UK
Winger Wayne Routledge is set to miss Swansea's Sky Bet Championship opener against Hull at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.
Routledge has been nursing a minor knock, and Swans head coach Steve Cooper is not prepared to take any risks.
George Byers is available, though, while Jay Fulton has recovered from a hip problem and Courtney Baker-Richardson is also fit. And there could be a debut for goalkeeper Freddie Woodman following his loan capture from Newcastle.
Hull will be without striker David Milinkovic for the trip to south Wales. Milinkovic is sidelined by an ankle injury, and there is a possibility that he could require surgery, but there is better news about his fellow forward Tom Eaves.
Eaves' summer preparations were affected by a groin injury, but he was back in training earlier this week and is rated 100 per cent fit by Tigers boss Grant McCann. McCann, though, says that Markus Henriksen is unlikely to feature amid continued speculation about his future at Hull.
Opta stats
Swansea City are winless in their last four league meetings with Hull (W0 D1 L3) since winning 3-1 in a Premier League clash in April 2015.
This is the third league meeting between Swansea and Hull on the opening day of the season - the Tigers won the other two, in 1929 (1-0) and 2010 (2-0).
This is only the second time in the last 13 seasons Swansea are starting a league season at home - they lost the other game against Manchester United in August 2013.
Hull - 1-3 losers against Aston Villa last season - haven't lost on opening day in consecutive league seasons since August 2007.
Six of the last seven permanent Swansea managers have won their first league game in charge - the exception was Bob Bradley in October 2016 against Arsenal.
Hull manager Grant McCann has won all three of his opening day league games, winning in 2016-17 and 2017-18 with Peterborough and 2018-19 with Doncaster.
Prutton's prediction
David Prutton predicts: 3-2 (28/1 with Sky Bet)
