How Swans may be cast adrift before next game TABLE
SWANSEA City could be five points from safety before they next kick a ball. The Swans’ stark worries over relegation and the huge fight they face are in the danger of being spelt out over the weekend as Paul Clement’s side wait until Monday before taking on Everton.
And, with only two of their immediate rivals playing each other in the next round of fixtures, it underlines why Clement spoke of his men having to target points at Goodison following the thumping by championselect Manchester City on Wednesday night.
It would take some pretty bad luck – and some big weekend shocks – for the nightmare situation to pan out.
And, underlining how tight it still remains, there is a bigger chance that Swansea can drag themselves out of the bottom three with a win on Monday night.
But still, even if one or two key results go against Swansea on Saturday, it will start to crank up the relegation pressure on Clement’s men.
Regardless, as they look to bounce back from another home defeat at Goodison, they do so with a promise from inside the Swansea dressing room that they are mentally tough enough to cope with the challenge of playing catch-up, vowing that they are capable of repeating last season’s heroics.
Swansea had dragged themselves off the foot of the Premier League table last weekend with a muchneeded victory over West Brom.
But they were plunged back to the bottom even before they shipped four to Pep Guardiola’s recordbreaking City after Crystal Palace’s late comeback win over Watford 24 hours earlier.
Coupled with West Ham picking up an unlikely four points from games against Chelsea and Arsenal, it’s quickly put the pressure back on Clement and his men – with the under-fire Swans boss already turning up the heat on himself and his side by saying Palace at the Liberty is “absolutely” the type of game that will define their season.
And doomsday scenarios could really hammer that home even before the trip to Everton to face former stars Ashley Williams and Gylfi Sigurdsson as part of a Toffees team revitalised under Sam Allardyce.
It still remains congested at the bottom, with West Ham assistant Stuart Pearce backing up Albion boss Alan Pardew’s claims that as many as nine teams are in the relegation battle.
But Swansea could start being cut adrift from the rest of the pack, even if it would take a somewhat unlikely sequence of events.
Wins for immediate rivals could mean Swansea kick-off on Merseyside five points away from 17th and potentially four points from climbing off the bottom.
It’s an unlikely, but sobering thought, yet a defiant Martin Olsson maintains: “We won’t be focussed on other teams and what happens elsewhere but we are mentally tough enough whatever happens.
“We just look at Everton going there to do our jobs, what happens in other games happens. We just NEXT FIXTURES Tomorrow: Arsenal v Newcastle; Brighton v Burnley; Chelsea v Southampton; Leicester v Crystal Palace (1230); Man City v Tottenham (1730); Stoke v West Ham; Watford v Huddersfield. Sunday: Bournemouth v Liverpool (1630); West Brom v Man Utd (1415). Monday: Everton v Swansea City (2000). need to pick up our own points.
“Everton are not far in front of us themselves, and we believe it is a game we can go and get something from.
“We still believe. If there’s a few points away from safety, it doesn’t matter at this stage, there are enough games, there are good enough players here to come good and we can change things.”
Only one of the nine top-flight fixtures before Swansea play does not affect the survival sides, that being the mouthwatering clash between Manchester City and Tottenham at the Etihad.
A Southampton upset at Chelsea, and a Huddersfield victory at Watford would push them onto 21 points – nine points clear of Swansea, currently on 12.
Brighton beating Burnley at home would take them to 20 while a home win for Bournemouth would move them to 19. Newcastle winning at Arsenal would push them six clear of Swansea.
In terms of nearest rivals, a win for Palace at Leicester and West Brom following up their draw with Liverpool by beating Manchester United at the Hawthorns would move them both to 17 points.
Stoke play West Ham, a Hammers result also moving them five points away but keeping Stoke on 16 – and meaning Swansea would stay bottom even with a win at Everton. A draw would put Stoke on 17 and West Ham on 15, but even that would still leave Swansea five points away from escaping the bottom three.
It should be spelled out that a £1 bet for the above results would net close to £500,000 with some bookmakers if they all came in.
And just to show how extreme that situation would be, reversing the results with the same stake would see you cash in a paltry £100.
Indeed, Swansea could yet go to Everton knowing that victory not only lifts them out of the relegation places, but into 16th – and just four points off 11th with Palace to come at home before Christmas.