RELIEVED SWANS IN PARADISE
CARLOS CARVAHAL got a win in his first match, but said Swansea was still far from “birds and flowers”.
Late goals at Watford from Jordan Ayew and Luciano Narsingh gave the Swans their first triumph away from home since August and lifted them off the bottom of the table.
Carvahal, appointed Paul Clement’s successor last Thursday – a week after being axed by Championship side Sheffield Wednesday – said: “One win doesn’t mean everything will be in paradise, with lots of birds and flowers.
“It will still be very hard to stay up, but we believe we can. We will grow as a team. In the last 15 minutes we started taking risks and put more in attack. We tried everything to win.”
Rafa Benitez pleaded with Toon fans to stick with their struggling team.
Newcastle and Brighton battled out a goalless draw, which leaves Benitez with just one win since October.
Benitez said: “The supporters have been really good for a while. Watching these games they have to realise we need them behind the team.
“If we have their support, it’s easier. We want to stay in the Premier League and we have to stick together.”
Sam Allardyce accused his players of letting down goalkeeper Jordan Pickford as Everton’s seven-match unbeaten run came to an end.
Ryan Fraser’s deflected shot two minutes from time gave Bournemouth a 2-1 victory after Gana Gueye had equalised Fraser’s first-half goal.
But Big Sam grumbled: “The players should be disappointed that they have let Jordan down. We should have got a point out of that with some of the saves that he made.”
Antonio Conte has made it clear to Manchester City that Chelsea will not concede the league title without a fight.
Chelsea demolished Stoke 5-0 and Conte said: “It will be very tough to catch City. But we have to try to put everything into every game to try to get three points and put pressure on the other teams above us.”
Stoke boss Mark Hughes admits that tomorrow’s clash with fellow strugglers Newcastle is a “must-win”.
He said: “If we can win, that’ll give us two wins, a draw and a defeat over the Christmas-new Year period.”