This means the world
@ PREMIER LEAGUE PAUL GETS READY FOR ‘FINAL’ FIGHT
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PAUL CLEMENT says his players have not become complacent in their fight for survival.
Swansea were five points clear of the bottom three at the start of March, but a run of five defeats from six games has seen them drop back into the relegation zone.
And Clement will need three points against Stoke today to boost their chances of staying up.
The Swansea boss said: “My players didn’t get too comfortable being out of the relegation zone because to get to that position, we had to fight and scrap for everything.
“We knew that as quick as we could get into that position, we could go back the other way. We’ve spoken about that all the time.
“So it certainly hasn’t been through complacency or taking our eye off the ball of what we’ve needed to do.”
Defeats
Swansea host Stoke at the Liberty Stadium after back-to-back away defeats to West Ham and Watford.
The Swans have only lost to Arsenal and Tottenham at home under Clement.
And the former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich assistant says his team have five World Cup finals to play in to secure their Premier League status.
Clement added: “I’ve said to the players that is what we’re preparing for – a World Cup Final – and the next game will be the same.
“But we’ve got to deal with this one against Stoke because if we don’t, then we might not have a World Cup Final in the next game.
“We have got a lot of good energy around the players and they are upbeat about what can be achieved.
“We know that we’ve not done well enough recently. But there’s a lot of football to be played and we can still do this.”
Jack Cork is still crocked with an ankle injury, while Wayne Routledge will miss the clash with a hernia problem.