Fab's eyeing survival

13th February
First team

Lukasz Fabianski is eyeing the finishing line in the race for Premier League survival thanks to Swansea City's rousing run under Carlos Carvalhal.

The Swans looked in grave danger barely six weeks ago having taken just 13 points from their first 20 league games of the campaign.

But a dramatic upturn in fortunes means that while they remain right in the relegation mix or the moment, the Swans can begin to look towards the safety mark.

A haul of 14 points from seven league games since Carvalhal was appointed has lifted the Swans up to 16th in the table.

They have a total of 27 points from 27 matches, meaning they are within sight of the traditional 40-point survival target with 11 league fixtures remaining.

And while the focus this week switches to the Emirates FA Cup, Fabianski is already contemplating what might be required to extend the Swans’ stay among the elite.

“The table is very tight,” the Polish international keeper said.

“I think it will be a very exciting end to the season because the result of one game can change your league position dramatically.

“I don’t know if it will be the usual 40 points to get to safety or whether it will be lower than that, we will see.

“But what we have to do is to stay focused and continue to work hard.”

The Swans lost their first home game under Carvalhal in contentious circumstances against Spurs.

But since then they have put together a sparkling run of five successive Liberty victories in all competitions.

Liverpool and Arsenal have both been humbled in SA1, while the Swans dug deep to see off Sean Dyche’s hard-working Burnley side last Saturday.

“We have had a good little run,” Fabianski added.

“The funny thing is that when we played against Arsenal and Liverpool nobody expected us to win, then against Burnley people expected us to get three points.

“But Burnley are a very strong opponent. It was a probably tougher game against them than Arsenal or Liverpool because it was harder to create chances.

“We are very happy to have taken nine points from those three games.”