19/01/2014 13:30 v Tottenham Hotspur

The Swans slipped to another defeat as a clinical Tottenham Hotspur continued their fine form with a 3-1 victory at the Liberty.

Despite a positive opening in which Jonjo Shelvey went close on a few occasions and Wilfried Bony struck the crossbar, the Swans were trailing at the break following Emmanuel Adebayor's close finish from Christian Eriksen's cross.

Tim Sherwood's side doubled their advantage in the 53rd minute through a Chico Flores own goal, with the Spaniard unfortunately turning Kyle Walker's cross into his own net.

Adebayor made it 3-0 when he turned in after finding himself unmarked in the box, before Bony pulled one back for the hosts.

But there was no grandstand finish, with the Swans' winless run in the league extending to eight matches.

This result saw the Swans slip to 15th with 21 points from 22 games - and just three points off third-bottom West Ham, while a further blow came with Shelvey being replaced shortly into the second half through injury.

The Swans made a strong start with Shelvey showing his intentions early on with a few efforts on goal.

Firstly, he fired wide following a well-worked short corner and then the midfielder was teed up by Alejandro Pozuelo, but his driven effort curled away from the far post.

Shelvey was again involved as he held off an Eriksen challenge before driving a powerful shot which Hugo Lloris had to palm away before Danny Rose cleared the danger.

The Swans kept probing, and when Bony outmuscled Rose in a challenge some 25 yards out, the Ivorian failed to trouble Lloris as his rifled effort flew wide.

Bony was a constant menace to the Spurs defence, and he went within inches of breaking the deadlock on 24 minutes.

The striker lost his marker Michael Dawson before cutting inside onto his right foot and unleashing a thunderous shot who beat Lloris from 25 yards only to be denied by the crossbar.

And he was at the centre of things once again as he got onto the end of Angel Rangel's cross, but Bony couldn't make a clean connection and Lloris was left untroubled.

Then, out of nowhere, Spurs took the lead on 35 minutes.

Aaron Lennon teed up Eriksen for the cross, and his delivery found Adebayor and he glanced his header past Gerhard Tremmel at the far post.

It could have got worse soon after as Spurs gained momentum. Eriksen found Walker unmarked in the box, but the right-back fired his effort just over the crossbar.

Spurs asked more questions, and it took a fine reaction save from Tremmel to keep out a powerful Adebayor shot as the first half approached its final five minutes.

But that was the end of the action as Spurs took a precious lead into the second half.

The Swans were dealt a blow just six minutes into the half as Shelvey was forced off with an injury, and his place was taken by Roland Lamah.

And an even bigger blow was to follow three minutes later.

Dawson fed Walker down the right, and his cross along goal was deflected into his own net by the unfortunate Chico Flores.

The Swans needed a response, and Bony tested Lloris again as his powerful effort was swatted away by the keeper, and then Chico went close, rising highest to head Lamah's corner over the crossbar.

But Spurs were looking dangerous and effective on the counter, and Moussa Dembele could - and should - have made it game, set and match with 20 minutes to go.

He beat a high offside trap, and he raced in on goal but could only slot his effort wide.

But, just a minute later, the third goal did arrive.

Rose latched onto Eriksen's pass down the left, and he crossed to an unmarked Adebayor, who beat Tremmel from eight yards.

The Swans looked dead and buried, and with 78 minutes on the clock, they grabbed a goal back.

After Ben Davies' initial surge saw the ball drop to Lamah, his cross spun off the surface and into the path of Bony, and the striker slammed his half-volley into the bottom corner.

It was end-to-end play, and Spurs carved open another chance for themselves, but sub Gylfi Sigurdsson could only steer his low shot straight at Tremmel.

Tremmel then had to come to the rescue again as he beat Adebayor in a race to a through ball.

SWANS: Gerhard Tremmel, Angel Rangel, Chico Flores, Ashley Williams (capt), Ben Davies, Jordi Amat, Leon Britton, Jonjo Shelvey (Roland Lamah, 51), Alejandro Pozuelo, Wayne Routledge, Wilfried Bony.
SUBS: David Cornell, Dwight Tiendalli, Jazz Richards, Neil Taylor, Rory Donnelly, Alvaro Vazquez.

SPURS: Hugo Lloris, Kyle Walker, Vlad Chiriches, Michael Dawson (capt), Danny Rose, Christian Eriksen, Nabil Bentaleb, Moussa Dembele, Nacer Chadli (Gylfi Sigurdsson, 67), Aaron Lennon (Kyle Naughton, 79), Emmanuel Adebayor.
SUBS: Brad Friedel, Lewis Holtby, Roberto Soldado, Etienne Capoue, Jermain Defoe.