Preview: Swansea City vs. Hull City - prediction, team news, lineups

Two sides who have accumulated just four points from their opening five Championship matches will lock horns on Saturday afternoon, when Swansea City welcome Hull City to the Liberty Stadium.

This will be the first league meeting between the two teams since February 2020, which saw an entertaining 4-4 draw played out at the KC Stadium.

Match preview

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Russell Martin has had a difficult start to life as Swansea manager, winning only one of his opening five Championship matches in charge so far.

The Swans suffered their third defeat of the season in their most recent match against Preston North End, who condemned them to a 3-1 loss at Deepdale.

Martin will view Saturday's fixture as a good opportunity for last season's play-off finalists to get back to winning ways, against a Hull City side who are also searching for form and consistency.

Swansea will, however, need to improve their home form if they are to claim all three points this weekend, having won just one of their last seven league games at the Liberty Stadium.

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Unlike the Swans, Hull City were able to come away from Deepdale with a victory, cruising to a 4-1 win on the opening day of the season.

Since then, however, Grant McCann's men have struggled to find the net, failing to score in each of their next four Championship matches, losing against Queens Park Rangers, Derby County and Fulham, before playing out a goalless draw at home to Bournemouth in their most recent match.

Hull fans may be concerned to hear that they have had an identical five-game start in the second tier to their last relegation campaign at this level.

The Tigers will be keen to turn their form around quickly, though having won only two of their last 19 away games against Swansea, they will need to be on top of their game if they are to come out on top this weekend.

Team News

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Swansea experienced a busy deadline day which saw two key players – Jamal Lowe and Connor Roberts - depart the club for Bournemouth and Burnley respectively.

Experienced forward Wayne Routledge also announced during the international break that he is to leave the club after 10 years at the Liberty Stadium.

As for incomings, Martin was able to recruit Liverpool defender Rhys Williams on loan, striker Michael Obafemi on a permanent deal from Southampton as well as former Celtic and Marseille midfielder Olivier Ntcham on a free transfer; all three players are set to be in the squad this weekend.

Ben Cabango and Flynn Downes both missed the matches against Preston, Plymouth and Bristol City after returning positive coronavirus tests, but both players have resumed training this week and should be in contention to feature against Hull.

Striker Joel Piroe, who has scored in each of his last three Championship matches, is expected to lead the line up front though Obafemi and Morgan Whittaker will also be pushing for a place in the first XI.

As for Hull, George Honeyman (ankle) and Mallik Wilks (calf) will be assessed before kickoff to see if they are fit to feature this weekend.

Midfielder George Moncur, who was shown a straight red card against QPR last month, has served his three-game ban and will be in contention to start ahead of Greg Docherty in the number 10 role.

Experienced midfielder Tom Huddlestone made his first start of the new season last weekend and is expected to keep his place in the starting lineup alongside Manchester City loanee Matthew Smith, with Richard Smallwood set to begin again on the bench.

Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Benda; Latibeaudiere, Bennett, Cabango; Laird, Grimes, Fulton, Bidwell; Paterson, Whittaker; Piroe

Hull City possible starting lineup:
Ingram; Coyle, Bernard, Greaves, Elder; Smith, Huddlestone; Longman, Moncur, Lewis-Potter; Magennis

We say: Swansea City 1-1 Hull City

Both Swansea and Hull have had difficult starts in the Championship so far and will be keen to turn their form around with a victory on Saturday.

However, with little to separate the two teams, they may have to settle for just a point at the Liberty Stadium.