Swans all at sea
Sigurdsson strikes to keep his old club bottom of the table
Everton’s Gylfi Sigurdsson piled the pressure on former manager Paul Clement with a brilliant strike in last night’s 3-1 victory to leave Swansea rooted to the bottom of the Premier League.
The Iceland international, who left the Swans in a £45 million summer move, scored the vital second after Dominic Calvert-lewin had cancelled out Leroy Fer’s opener by converting Wayne Rooney’s saved penalty on the stroke of half-time.
Rooney then made sure of the points with his sixth goal in five games when the hosts were controversially awarded a fortuitous second spotkick in the 72nd minute.
It left Clement, who took over on 3 January with the club bottom of the table and guided them to safety, battling to save his job.
A dreary opening half-hour, punctuated only by injury to Wilfried Bony less than four minutes in, was belatedly ended by Aaron Lennon screwing a shot wide.
Goodison awoke when referee Jon Moss booked Mason Holgate for a foul on Nathan Dyer despite there appearing to be no contact. Then the visitors took the lead five minutes later when former Swans defender Ashley Williams lost Fer at a corner and the unmarked midfielder stabbed home Tom Carroll’s inswinging corner.
It was Fer’s first Premier League goal in 13 months and Swansea’s first not scored by Bony since 28 October.
Martin Olsson’s low drive flew just wide as the visitors looked to capitalise on their advantage, but it was soon wiped out when Roque Mesa tangled with Lennon and Moss pointed to the spot.
Rooney’s effort was tipped on to the post by Lukasz Fabianski , but Calvert-lewin converted the rebound.
The pivotal goal, in the 64th minute, could not have been a surprise for Swansea as former favourite Sigurdsson, collecting a pass from Rooney wide on the left, cut inside to brilliantly curl a shot inside the far post from 25 yards.
When you are down on your luck, there is no respite and Rooney blasted home his tenth of the season after Moss ruled Martin Olsson’s foul on Jonjoe Kenny was inside the area despite contact being made well outside.