Chairman's column: Everton

Read Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins' programme notes for today's clash with Everton.

Good afternoon and a warm welcome once again to everyone here at that Liberty Stadium for today’s Premier League game against Everton.

Last week’s draw at The Hawthorns was a great point considering the pressure on West Bromwich Albion to win the game and with club favourite Darren Moore taking charge earlier in the week.

You could tell that he helped bring a togetherness and spirit back to everyone connected to the club after such a long winless run and a big downturn in fortunes.

These games are never easy to predict.

With that in mind, I thought our manager and players showed tremendous patience and character to stick to our game plan and resist the temptation to throw caution to the wind and treat the game as a must-win.

In my opinion, the negative impact of losing the game would far outweigh the risk. So, taking everything into account and bearing in mind we now play four of our remaining six games here at the Liberty Stadium, plus hopefully a fully-fit and rested Jordan Ayew champing at the bit to add a few more goals to his personal tally, we can finish the season in a strong and positive way.

A warm welcome to all directors, staff, players and supporters from Everton who have travelled to Swansea for today’s game.

Everton have had some big changes within the club this season and must be looking to finish the campaign with a strong, positive feel around the football club.

Since the early departure of manager Ronald Koeman and the continued investment on the field, I’m sure Everton will be looking to push on next season to establish themselves once again near the top of the Premier League in readiness for their proposed move to the new waterfront stadium in Bramley-Moore Dock.

Back to ourselves and, with just six Premier League games to go and all that is at stake for so many teams, I’m sure we can look forward to some twists and turns over the coming weeks.

As we have experienced over recent seasons, the pressure to stay in the Premier League becomes the main focus for a lot of teams, especially with the title winners and top four places more or less decided with some time to spare.

Let’s hope we can finish the job we started in January and end the season in some style.

Hopefully, with a little bit of luck along the way, we can enjoy our last six games and perform to the standards we know our players can attain.

Huw