Time running out for Swansea as Clement admits survival may be out of their hands
As Swansea’s players trudged off the pitch after a sixth successive away defeat, I Just Can’t Get Enough blared from the Vicarage Road speakers as Paul Clement stood alone with his hands on his hips. It was a cruelly ironic choice of song for Clement whose early promise as Swansea manager seems to have deserted him: they just can’t get enough goals and at the moment, they can’t get any points.
With only five games remaining, Clement’s side are two points adrift of safety and woefully out of form: a swansong looms ever closer. “Mathematically it’s out of our hands,” said Clement. “I believe the next game at home [to Stoke] is a must win game. More than likely we’re going to need to win three of those last five games.
“Who knows if even that will be enough,” he added.
They probably deserved a point at Watford who won their third consecutive home game due to Alfie Mawson’s catastrophic error at the end of the first half which gifted a goal to Étienne Capoue, who scored for the first time in 19 games.
Watford were dogged and resilient but, with little left to play for, were there for the taking.
“We didn’t have enough good sharp combinations or enough individual quality in that area,” Clement said. “That’s the hardest part of the game, that final bit.”
Swansea started aggressively enough, committing a series of needless fouls in the opening minutes. They also had the game’s first chance as Gylfi Sigurdsson lashed a shot at Heurelho Gomes who beat it round the near post.
Gomes’ handling was less secure five minutes later as he misjudged his punch from Sigurdsson’s free-kick but Federico Fernández could only head onto the roof of the net.
With Clement pondering his halftime advice, Mawson dawdled and then gifted possession to Capoue who scored at the second time of asking after Lukasz Fabianski had saved brilliantly from his first attempt.
It proved to be the game’s decisive moment and Clement will have been disappointed that his side created few clear chances after the break.
The closest either side came to scoring in the second period was when Daryl Janmaat’s long-range drive was well saved by Fabianski as Watford held on to reach the 40 point mark.
They will be playing Premier League football next season. Whether it will be under Walter Mazzarri remains to be seen.
“I have a three-year contract. I want to stay here,” said the Italian. “With all that has happened this year, this season, to have 40 points with six games to go is very good.”
Watford (4-3-3) Gomes 6; Janmaat 8, Prodl 7, Mariappa 7, Holebas 7; Cleverley 5 (Behrami 89), Doucoure 7, Capoue 7; Amrabat 5 (Kabasele 64), Deeney 6, Niang 6 (Okaka 78). Subs Pantilimon (g), Success, Mason, Pereira. Swansea (4-4-1-1) Fabianski 7; Naughton 7, Fernandez 6, Mawson 5, Olsson 6; Fulton 6 (Carroll 67); Narsingh 5 (Baston 58), Fer 7, Ki 6; Sigurdsson 7; Llorente 6 (Ayew 81). Subs Nordfeldt (g), Van Der Hoorn, Routledge, Kingsley.
Referee L Mason (Greater Manchester).