'Forget City, we have to look ahead'

16th December
First team

Paul Clement has told his players to put their Manchester City mauling to one side as they target pre-Christmas progress in the Premier League.

The Swans were left licking their wounds having finished up well beaten by the leaders at the Liberty in midweek.

But ahead of Monday’s tricky trip to Everton, Clement wants his team to forget what happened against City and focus instead on what they did in the win over West Brom.

“It was tough initially after Manchester City,” said the Swans manager.

“We haven’t been on the end of a performance like that in any game this season.

“Manchester City were totally dominant and it wasn’t a very nice experience for us, but you have to respect the quality of the opposition we were up against.

“What we have to do is focus on what happened against West Brom last weekend, where we showed fighting spirit and got over the line in a tight game.

“We have to go from that game to Everton and then Crystal Palace and not think about what happened against Manchester City.

“It was one of the first things I said to the players in the dressing room after the game – we have been beaten by a great side, but let’s move forward.”

The Swans climbed off the bottom of the table thanks to the West Brom success, but they slipped back to 20th place courtesy of Palace’s midweek win over Watford.

Results elsewhere this weekend could mean they are in deeper trouble come kick-off time at Goodison Park, but Clement is remaining positive.

“At the moment there are four points between us and 14th place,” he said.

“We have six points available to us before we turn into the second half of the season, so let’s try to take as many of them as we can.

“I think we need to try to get some points in the next two games to make sure we don’t get cast adrift. Then we are getting close to January and hopefully we can do a couple of things that will help us.”