Steve Cooper says Borja Bastón was revelling in the role of leading the line after his two goals secured their 3-2 win over Preston. The £15m Spanish striker went 1,022 days without a Swansea goal before this season but now has three goals in three league games. It was his equaliser on the stroke of half-time that gave the hosts a lifeline after Joe Rafferty’s early strike put a dominant Preston side ahead after 11 minutes.

Andre Ayew has been backed to become Swansea City’s reconditioned engine this season. The Ghanain star was considered a luxury model the club could no longer afford as they tried to move him on this summer. But with no takers, Ayew has been taken off the forecourt and put back into manager Steve Cooper’s side and may even start against Preston today after his goal-scoring comeback in midweek.

Swansea City goalkeeper Freddie Woodman earned praise from his manager after proving a diligent student during a hard-earned point at Derby County. Woodman – on loan at the Swans from Newcastle – saved a first-half penalty that Steve Cooper insisted owed as much to pre-game planning as the keeper’s athleticism. The keeper denied Martyn Waghorn four minutes before half-time and also made a second-half double save to earn his side a point from a 0-0 draw at Pride Park in game of few clear chances.

New Swansea City striker Sam Surridge wants a crack at the Premier League, having had a taster when he was just 19. Surridge instilled himself with the belief he could cut it at the very top level by troubling Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo in an FA Cup tie in 2018. The on-loan Bournemouth striker – who could make his debut against Derby County today – started for Yeovil against United and although the Old Trafford giants eventually won 4-0, Argentina international Rojo was given a torrid time by the man from Slough.

Andre Ayew could become another born-again striker at Swansea City – hot on the heels of Borja Baston. Ayew was expected to move from the Liberty Stadium this summer, but with no buyers willing to take a punt on the 29-year-old Ghana international, he will return to training with the club on Sunday. The former West Ham and Marseille striker had been given extra time off to recover from his efforts at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

New Swansea City striker Sam Surridge is hoping some of the stardust he picked up from rubbing shoulders with Jermain Defoe and Callum Wilson can be sprinkled at the Liberty Stadium. Surridge, 21, has completed a loan move from Bournemouth, where he was able view the England international strike pair at close quarters. The sixth player to arrive at the club this summer, Surridge will compete with Borja Baston and Courtney Baker-Richardson for the central striker’s role vacated by Oli McBurnie.

Borja Baston may have spent a thousand days between goals for Swansea City, but teammate Mike van der Hoorn reckons that strike rate is about to get a whole lot more respectable. Spanish striker Borja took precisely 1,022 days between his first goal for Swansea in October 2016 and his next – the equaliser in Saturday’s 2-1 opening Championship victory over Hull City. In fairness to the one-time record club signing – who cost £15.5m – he has been scoring goals in the last three years. Just not for Swansea and not very many, if truth be told.

A thousand days – the entire length of the Kennedy presidency – had elapsed since Borja Baston last scored for Swansea City, but manager Steve Cooper believes history moves on without so much as a backward glance. “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” declared John F. Kennedy at his inauguration. After scoring the equaliser in Swansea’s 2-1 opening Championship season victory at home to Hull City, it was case of Borja doing for his club, rather than them doing away with him as seemed to be the case for much of the summer.

Rather like Boris Johnson’s strategy of suggesting simple optimism can somehow overcome complex problems, Swansea City fans are being asked to put hope ahead of reality again this season. As the club prepare for their second campaign in the Championship, it is difficult to find many concrete reasons to believe they will end it by returning to the Premier League. Instead, the chosen path of the American owners seems to reflect that of the new Prime Minister – or perhaps Donald Trump – in hoping that a breezy confidence that everything will be just fine will in itself overcome any difficulties.

Swansea City have agreed to sell top scorer Oli McBurnie to Sheffield United for a fee that could be worth £20m. After initially rebuffing the newly promoted Premier League club’s offers for the Scotland striker, the Swans have chosen to sell just two days before the start of the new Championship season. The blow has been partially offset by a £1m deal in place to bring in Kristoffer Peterson from Dutch club Heracles, but it still represents a huge setback to the club’s ambitions of improving on last season’s 10th place finish.

Swansea City goalkeepers Kristoffer Nordfeldt and Erwin Mulder have been told the slate has been wiped clean and the shirt is up for grabs as they start the new season. Under former manager Graham Potter in the last campaign, neither keeper was able to establish long-term dominance of the position. Dutchman Mulder started 24 Championship matches, just edging out Swedish international Nordfeldt, who began 22 games, but neither produced the kind of form that made their selection inevitable or unchallenged.

Ben Wilmot has pinpointed Swansea City manager Steve Cooper’s success in working with young player as an attraction that led to his loan deal. The 19-year-old Watford defender has moved to the Liberty Stadium on a season-long agreement following a loan spell in Italy last season with Udinese. Wilmot said former England U17 World Cup-winning coach Cooper was someone he was keen to work with.