Guidolin hails "best performance" so far

Francesco Guidolin hailed Swansea's 1-0 victory over Chelsea as the "best performance" of his tenure as Swans boss.

The Swans secured their first-ever Barclays Premier League victory over the Blues, thanks to Gylfi Sigurdsson's 11th goal of the season.

The Iceland international volleyed home in the 25th-minute to secure all three points for the Swans, helping them reach the much coveted 40-point mark for the season.

Guidolin's side impressed throughout the 90 minutes and had further chances to extend their lead as Leroy Fer, Angel Rangel and Jefferson Montero all went close for the hosts, while Chelsea offered little to test the reflexes of Swans goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

And Guidolin hailed his side for their impressive display at the Liberty Stadium.

"This is the best performance in my time here," reflected the Swans head coach. "The first half, especially, was very good.

"I'm very happy because this is my team and my opinion is that we can play in this way for a long time, but I am the new manager and I needed to get to know my players.

"Today, I saw my team play very well, with aggression and quality.

"We missed one thing, and that was that we didn't score more. We deserved to win by more, especially in the first half.

"I think we are safe with 40 points, and now we can look forward and not behind, which is an important for us, for our fans and for the club.

"I want my team to focus for the last part of the season. It's a proud day for me, but it's important we finish the season well. We need to have concentration and determination like we did during this match."

Guidolin also highlighted the influences of Jefferson Montero and goalscorer Gylfi Sigurdsson on his side's impressive victory over Chelsea.

"Jefferson Montero played well." he added. "I am happy for him because he is an important player and we now have more solutions. He played well with and without the ball, which is important. 

"Gylfi is very important for the team and for the Premier League. For me, he is the perfect number 10. He plays for the team, runs a lot and is a good striker. He can change position and can score 15 goals a season.

"He is now on 11 goals for the season, which is really important."

Meanwhile, Chelsea interim manager Guus Hiddink felt his side's sloppiness in the final third proved costly.

"We expected a difficult game because, in theory, they needed three points," said Hiddink. "We created some half chances in the first 20 minutes, but we were sloppy.

"We found ourselves one-nil down and in the second half we were unable to make too many chances.

"We gave some opportunities to younger players and there is a chance you can lose, but I prefer to give players who aren't frequently playing some chances between now and the end of the season."