Ayew’s golden goal edges Swans closer to survival
IT MAY not be possible to put a value on the equalising goal Jordan Ayew scored here.
It isn’t just the obvious financial implications of Swansea staying in the Premier League, it’s the pride, prestige and prominence that comes with preserving their hard-won top-flight status. For club, city and Welsh football as a whole.
Then there’s the future of Carlos Carvalhal, and the fact that being able to hold on to star players and entice new ones is an awful lot easier if you’re in the top tier.
Yet the overriding feeling afterwards was of two points dropped for Swansea, having dominated Everton and squandered a number of clear opportunities.
Weirdly, they dropped two places in the table but extended their buffer zone over Southampton in that dreaded 18th place from four to five points. For a fair chunk of the afternoon, it appeared fortune had deserted them. Kyle Naughton’s own goal just before half-time gave Everton a lead they didn’t remotely deserve.
Such was Evertonian dissatisfaction, they directed derogatory chants at manager Sam Allardyce during the second half.
Ayew’s well-taken strike with 19 minutes remaining addressed any sense of injustice and, in the grander scheme of things, at least increases Swansea’s margin of error with matches against Manchester City and Chelsea up next.
Their campaign concludes with more manageable fixtures against Bournemouth, Southampton and Stoke City. The entire season may well boil down to last two. ‘It is obvious we deserved more,’ said manager Carvalhal.
‘But in this competition we never know if this point will be important. We depend on ourselves, not on others and this is the most important thing.
‘Sometimes you have points you don’t deserve and sometimes you deserve it and don’t get a point. At the end, let’s see what position we are in. We are optimists.’
Truth is, if Swansea play their remaining games as they did here, they will stay up with something to spare.
Allardyce singled out Jordan Pickford for praise. He said: ‘It is not the best performance but it moves us on. I’m sure Swansea are saying they should have won it and perhaps they should, but our keeper takes some beating.’