Hull vs Swansea – Match Preview

Another week and another ‘6 pointer’ at the foot of the Premier League table and this time it takes to The KCom Stadium as Hull play host to Swansea this Afternoon. The two teams have relative parallels after rolling the dice earlier in the season and changing their manager (twice in Swansea’s case) and this game will be a litmus test as to how the two are performing.

Both managers have done a decent job but ultimately the job is defined by the league position now and more importantly at the end of the season. With Hull in the bottom three the pressure is on to pick up a much needed win not only for themselves but to stop Swansea putting real distance between them and the bottom three.

Last weekend saw Hull travel to Leicester and become the second team to lose to the defending champions since Craig Shakespeare has taken charge. A win that will more than likely see Claudio Ranieri’s former assistant at least get the reigns until the end of the season.

We talk of new manager bounce and perhaps Hull faced Leicester just a couple of weeks too late but on the other hnd Swansea timed their match up just right. Their 2-0 win at The Liberty Stadium would be Ranieri’s final game in charge of The Foxes.

What a difference a couple of weeks can make. But it has not been a couple of weeks since Hull’s last win, it’s been 5 in fact with that win coming over a Liverpool side who were very much in a rut but that is not to take away anything from Marco Silva’s men that day.

They will have to rediscover that kind of form if they are to get the better of a Swansea side that have had an incredible turnaround in fortunes since Paul Clement took charge. They have managed to win six from their last nine and although Clement perhaps did not play a huge part in the win over Crystal Palace that started it all he has certainly played a massive part in the five wins that have followed.

Last week Burnley were the latest to visit The Liberty Stadium and with their aversion to winning on the road Swansea would have identified that game as one that was very much a winnable one. It may have needed a late winner in a 5 goal thriller but ultimately it meant that Sean Dyche is still looking for his first win on the road this season.

The resurgence at Swansea has not simply been down to Clement though, the likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente have played a huge role while the signings of Tom Carroll and Martin Olsson in the January transfer window have looked particularly shrewd.

Those four along with Alfie Mawson have been the stand out players in a Swansea side that has been revitalised since the much maligned era of former US Mens National Team Head Coach Bob Bradley (far too many capital letters in that run of words) and when many had them tipped for the drop they are now tipped to steer clear.

To do so they are going to have to pick up wins in the games like this, beating Liverpool at Anfield was a huge bonus and really began to spark the revival but it is these games which is the bread and butter when you are at the bottom of the table.

I think Hull will run them close and are due a win at some point as their performances have not quite warranted the results they perhaps deserve but that said I think Swansea will just have the edge and bag the three points which will just begin to open up a bit of comfort for the South Wales side. An away win for me.