SWANS ARE SINKING, BUT THEY ALL THINK THEY’LL STAY AFLOAT
(Just one problem, they need to stop losing fast)
IF SWANSEA should be losing hope after seven Premier League games without a win, nobody has told them.
Manager, players, fans: this is a club who now embrace a scrap and could never be accused of lacking fight. Visiting the Liberty stadium earlier in the season, substitutes were greeted with boos, there were anti-board chants and the playing staff looked uninterested.
all that has changed, with two games to come at home that mean the season’s final week will be the biggest in swansea’s seven years in the Premier League.
after a trip to Bournemouth on saturday, fellow endangered sides southampton and stoke cross the border and both can expect to be met by a wall of noise and fight. Manager Carlos Carvalhal is full of confidence — privately, he told friends he expected to beat Chelsea on saturday — and that is reflected in the manner of players and supporters.
Cesc Fabregas’s fourth-minute goal decided this game but swansea refused to give in. The men on the pitch ended the 90 minutes in the ascendancy, unlucky not to equalise. Those in the stands kicked every ball and challenged every call of referee Jon Moss.
‘i am 100 per cent confident we are going to stay up,’ forward andre ayew said. ‘We will do everything to stay up, we have the quality. We need a little bit of luck to come on our side.’
ayew is half right. Luck is betraying swansea, but his line on quality is not quite correct: in most seasons, this group of players would struggle. They are fortunate that the bottom half of the Premier League is in a similar state. But the grit Carvalhal has instilled since replacing Paul Clement in December stands the swans in good stead as the pressure rises a notch for their final three matches.
Eden Hazard was a class act that swansea could not get close to in the first half but as the rain fell and the pitch suffered, the hosts dragged Chelsea into their range a little more. andre ayew fizzed in a shot with 15 minutes left to test Thibaut Courtois, then Kyle Naughton and Tom Carroll also went close.
‘if the pressure to us means this kind of performance then the pressure is very welcome,’ Carvalhal said. ‘i am very happy about that and it gives confidence for the remaining games.
‘My players should sleep very peacefully because they did everything. They must be calm and concentrated and not lose their heads because we know what we’re doing. We are in a good way. We don’t need to move things because we’re in a good way.’
andre ayew, who returned to join his brother Jordan at swansea from West Ham in an £18million deal in January, added: ‘We are men — i think we are men. if we want to stay in the Premier League we have to battle for it. The reason i am here is to make sure we stay up and i am ready for any challenge.’
Chelsea may now have a battle of their own, too. Having looked out of the top- four picture, the dethroned champions are now just two points behind Tottenham, who play tonight, and six behind Liverpool, who have played a game more and head to stamford Bridge this sunday.
But this is not a team newly empowered by chasing their big rivals. antonio Conte’s side still show signs of fragility and, while a defence superbly led by Cesar azpilicueta kept swansea out, there were poor second-half performances elsewhere. ‘in the league we struggle a lot for many reasons. it is very difficult to be focused on one reason,’ Conte said.
He will watch Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final against roma with interest, but the Chelsea mood does not seem hopeful of this final chase coming off. For starters, they have not strung six league wins together — a run which is required now — all season.
‘Even if we win every game, if they do well we will not be in the Champions League next year,’ Fabregas said. ‘it’s not up to us, so i would prefer to be in their position. it’s up to us to keep winning but they obviously have the advantage because they are on top.’
swansea have the fight to achieve their aims of finishing fourth-bottom or above. Questions remain over Chelsea at the other end of the table. SWANSEA (5-4-1): Fabianski 6; Roberts 6 (Carroll 63min, 6), Van Der Hoorn 5, Mawson 6.5, Naughton 6.5, Olsson 5.5 (Routledge 81); A Ayew 6, Ki 5.5, King 5 (Dyer 58, 6), Clucas 6; J Ayew 6 Subs not used: Nordfeldt, Britton, Rangel, Sanches Booked: A Ayew Manager: Carlos Carvalhal 6.5 CHELSEA (3-4-1-1): Courtois 6.5; AZPILICUETA 8, Cahill 7, Rudiger 7; Moses 5, Kante 7.5, Fabregas 6.5 (Pedro 81), Bakayoko 5.5, Emerson 6; Hazard 7.5 (Willian 81); Giroud 5.5 (Morata 85). Subs not used: Caballero, Barkley, Christensen, Zappacosta. Booked: Moses. Scorer: Fabregas 4. Manager: Antonio Conte 6. Referee: Jonathan Moss 7.