Swansea City make the long trip to Hull City on Saturday knowing that they require three points to retain any hope of earning a Championship playoff spot.

Although the Welsh side are down in 12th position in the standings, they are just three points adrift of sixth, while Hull trail the visitors by six points.

Match preview

Throughout February and March, it appeared only a matter of time before Russell Martin would lose his job at Swansea, the club's poor form seemingly leaving them with little to play for.

However, the faith placed in Martin has proved justified, a run of six wins and one draw from seven matches keeping the Welsh outfit in contention for the playoffs.

Realistically, beating Hull and West Bromwich Albion and hoping for favours elsewhere is the best that Swansea can hope for, yet Swansea would have taken that scenario a few weeks ago.

Their latest noteworthy success was a 3-0 triumph away at Norwich City, Swansea already two goals to the good before their efforts were aided by a sending off.

Martin's side have kept five clean sheets during their recent run, and they will back themselves to post another at the home of their next opponents.

Although Hull are a team on an upward trajectory under Liam Rosenior, they have only scored seven times in as many outings, four of those strikes coming in the same match.

After pushing Middlesbrough in a 3-1 defeat, the Tigers returned to the MKM Stadium to see off faltering Watford by a 1-0 scoreline.

A first-half penalty made the difference in that fixture, and a fourth clean sheet in six encounters was posted in the process.

While catching 13th-placed Watford is still the goal, Rosenior and his squad will likely be focused on finishing no lower than 15th, something which would represent a positive season after their time previously spent in the relegation zone.

Team News

Rosenior may be prepared to select the same Hull side which battled their way to victory over Watford last time out.

Aaron Connolly may return to the squad after illness, but Alfie Jones and Oscar Estupinan appear unlikely to feature due to thigh and ankle issues respectively.

Dimitris Pelkas is an alternative to youngster Harry Vaughan, who has recently made his first three outings in the Championship.

Jay Fulton and Liam Walsh may come back into contention for Swansea after missing the trip to Carrow Road with a knock and workload being managed respectively.

However, barring any fitness issues, Martin has little reason to make any alterations to his team after they cruised to success in East Anglia.

Hull City possible starting lineup:
Darlow; Coyle, McLoughlin, Greaves, Elder; Seri, Slater; Sayyadmanesh, Tufan, Vaughan; Traore

Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Fisher; Latibeaudiere, Cabango, Wood, Manning; Grimes, Ntcham; Cullen, Cundle, Paterson; Piroe

We say: Hull City 1-2 Swansea City

With both teams in form, this should prove to be a competitive fixture, particularly with the pressure off Hull. Nevertheless, we cannot back against Swansea, who are motivated to retain their current tag of the best-performing side in the division.

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