Town and Swans will both survive: Jenks

FORMER Town and Swansea ace Steve Jenkins believes both clubs have what it takes for Premier League survival – regardless of this weekends’ result.

The two sides face each other on the same number of points (30) but with the Swans lying 13th in the table and Town 15th, courtesy of goal difference.

And while David Wagner has claimed two wins in the last three Premier League games, Carlos Carvalhal has orchestrated a remarkable turnaround in the South Wales’ fortunes.

Jenkins, who had a five-year spell in South Wales before going on to make 258 appearances for Town between 1995 and 2003, believes momentum is key for both sides.

“When you are on a winning run football becomes easy, but when you haven’t got it then it becomes one of the most difficult games to play,” said the former full-back, who is now assistant manager at Hereford FC.

“It’s especially important when you’re fighting for survival – that little bit of momentum over three, four, five games to get the points needed should see you shoot up the table.

“I think it will go down to the wire, but if you can get a few backto-back wins it will shoot you up the table – you just have to look at what Swansea have done.

“Before Carlos Carvalhal, everybody said they were doomed and down – but he’s gone in and got some momentum going and they are on an incredible run.

“Looking at Swansea, I think they will be safe and I have no doubt Town will stay up as well.”

Jenkins remembers Town selling striker Marcus Stewart and missing the play-offs.

“It was a strange situation really, we were in a great position at Christmas and perhaps the sale of Marcus to Ipswich Town saw us lose a lot of momentum.

“We obviously lost his goals and him and Clyde Wijnhard had a fantastic partnership which was broken up – and we didn’t quite get the goals after that. It had a big impact and, in the end, we probably weren’t good enough over the season, but if Marcus had stayed we definitely would have made the play-offs.”