Preview: Swansea City vs Preston North End

Besian Idrizaj will be remembered at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday against Preston North End after his sudden and tragic death in May.

Swansea City was shocked and saddened to hear the news of the 22 year-old`s death earlier this year, as he passed away in his sleep at his home in Austria.

Swansea City will honour his memory at tomorrow`s game, with the club selling scarfs at £2.50 (no profit will be made on these sales) for fans to show and of course a minute`s silence will be held prior to kick-off at 3pm.

Not only that, but Swans fans have got together, including Craig Mapstone, a Vital Swansea member, who has helped to organise a large display at the Stadium tomorrow, where around 2,500 fans in the East Stand will hold up white and black A3 paper to produce a large shirt with the number 40 - Idrizaj`s shirt number which has been retired in honour of the player.

Back to the game then, and Swansea City will be looking for their first win of the season and to put things right after our opening day disappointment at Hull City last weekend, when we lost 2-0 against the Tigers.

Brendan Rodgers says Tuesday night`s 3-0 cup win has helped to boost confidence, and he`s also boosted with the availability of new signing Scott Sinclair who could make his Swansea City debut.

Brendan Rodgers:

'Every game is difficult at this level and Saturday will be no different,' he added.

'It probably wasn't the ideal start last week at Hull, but we had a good win in the week in the cup and that breeds confidence.

'We'll take that confidence into the game and look for another good performance.'

Darren Ferguson:

Against Swansea we will have to be disciplined, patient when they have the ball and good in possession when we have it.

'When we went there last season it was a long 90 minutes, we struggled.

'The way Swansea play is that they wait until someone switches off and then try to capitalise on it.

'Hopefully we can put in a good performance and come away with a result.'

Swansea City will be without Gorka Pintado after he picked up a shoulder injury which leaves us with only two fit strikers - Dobbie and Kuqi. But we`re boosted with the arrival of Scott Sinclair, who`s available to make his Swansea City debut.

Joe Allen is also available again after making his return from injury on Tuesday night against Barnet in the Carling Cup.

Ashley Williams and David Cotterill both came out of Wales` 5-1 win on Wednesday night unscathed and look set to start.

The former Chelsea winger arrives at the Liberty Stadium with huge potential and promise and Swansea fans can`t wait to see him in action. The 21 year-old will add extra attacking quality as well as lightning pace.

Craig Morgan and Keith Treacy both played in international matches on Wednesday and should play after returning unscathed.

Sean St. Ledger could return after missing the previous two games with a hamstring injury.

Jon Parkin is nearing a return but Wayne Brown remains on the sidelines.

Darren Ferguson signed the striker from Scunthorpe United on a free in the Summer and he`ll be hoping the forward can provide the goals to help avoid them from the drop this season. He netted a brace on Tuesday night as Preston romped to a 5-0 victory away at Stockport County.

Preston are looking for their first win at the Liberty Stadium after suffering some heavy defeats in previous seasons.

Both teams got off to a losing start this year, Preston lost 2-0 to Doncaster Rovers while the Swans lost by the same scoreline at Hull City.

Swansea City edge the head-to-head battle with 22 wins against Preston's 19 - with 16 draws.

Swansea City should be the stronger of the two teams, we have the home advantage and hopefully we can show our true quality in front of a home crowd. Scott Sinclair could also start to give a boost in our attack. Swansea 2-1 Preston

Saturday, 21 August 2010
Norwich v Swansea - 15:00

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 | Carling Cup
Tranmere v Swansea, 19:45

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