CLEMENT FLIES IN TO SAVE SWANSEA

PAUL CLEMENT will today take over as Swansea City manager after agreeing to leave Bayern Munich for a salvage mission at the bottom of the Premier League. The 44-year-old will sign a two-and-a-half-year contract at the Liberty Stadium, as revealed by

Sportsmail on Sunday. Caretaker manager Alan Curtis will be in charge for this evening’s crucial match at Crystal Palace but Clement will also be in attendance. It represents a gamble for Swansea in going for a candidate with just eight months’ managerial experience, Clement having worked largely as an assistant under Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea, Real Madrid, Paris SaintGermain and Bayern. But it also signifies something of a risk for Clement (below), who was sacked by Derby 11 months ago in his only other foray into a top job. Swansea’s defence are on course to concede the most goals ever in a Premier League season and Curtis said the squad are suffering a ‘crisis of confidence’. The club’s American owners, Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien, last week sacked countryman Bob Bradley, who had only replaced Francesco Guidolin in October. Clement is expected to sign a contract this afternoon after flying into London yesterday to finalise a deal. Despite being bottom of the Premier League and suffering four heavy defeats in succession, Swansea remain only four points behind tonight’s opponents. Palace boss Sam Allardyce was full of praise for Clement, whom he tried to lure from Bayern in the summer to be his assistant manager for England. Asked why he wanted Clement as his No 2, Allardyce said: ‘It’s down to his coaching of players, organisation of players and the experience he’s gained with Ancelotti. ‘Going into that position (taking over a struggling club), I’ve been there many times but I’m not going to shell out any advice now because I don’t want to give him anything he might be able to use. ‘We’ll talk after the game by which time we’ve won hopefully, fingers crossed.’ Allardyce, who lost his job with England after an undercover newspaper sting, urged his players to hold their nerve. ‘Swansea is a massive game for the nerves of our players,’ he said. ‘They have to control their nerves because everybody expects us to win on the basis that Swansea are struggling. ‘We’re struggling but they’re struggling really badly.’