Can Swans blunt the Blades?

21st June
First team

Swansea City will have to do something they have managed only once before if they are to kick off the new Championship season with a victory.

Namely, they must win a league game at Bramall Lane.

The fixture computer has handed Graham Potter’s team a trip to Sheffield United on the opening day of the 2018-19 campaign.

It looks a tricky assignment for the Swans given that they must hit the road to take on a Blades side who were play-off contenders for much of last season.

And the history books also suggest the Swans will face a significant challenge.

After all, there has been just one Swans win in 18 previous league visits to United’s ground.

That was all the way back in 1939, when they triumphed 2-1 in the old Second Division.

Since then, there have been 13 fruitless league trips to the red and black corner of Sheffield.

The most recent of those games was back in December 2010, when a Ched Evans goal was enough to give the home side – who included a certain Leon Britton – all three points.

The Swans were also beaten at United in the two previous seasons, but it was a different story when they went north in the 2006-07 FA Cup.

Kenny Jackett’s Swans were a League One team and United, under Neil Warnock, were a Premier League club.

Yet it was the Swans who romped to a memorable 3-0 victory thanks to two goals from Tom Butler and a Britton penalty.

Something similar to that game would be most welcome when Potter’s men head to the Steel City on August 4.