'Let's keep our heads up'

25th February
First team

Ki Sung-Yueng has urged Swansea City to stay positive as they fight for Premier League survival despite their setback at Brighton.

The Swans lost an away game for the first time under Carlos Carvalhal as they went down 4-1 at the Amex Stadium yesterday.

Carvalhal’s side failed to reach the standards of recent performances and were duly punished by one of their rivals in the scrap to stay up.

Two Glenn Murray goals and a strike from Anthony Knockaert put Brighton 3-0 up before Tammy Abraham’s shot deflected off Lewis Dunk and into the net to give the Swans a flicker of hope late on.

But a comeback always looked unlikely, and it was Brighton who netted again in the dying minutes through Jurgen Locadia to seal an emphatic victory.

The result was a blow for Carvalhal’s Swans, who had not lost in 10 games in all competitions before their trip to the South Coast.

But Ki reckons the Swans must not let their confidence take a dent as they look to respond to the Brighton beating.

“We are disappointed. To lose 4-1 is frustrating for us and we cannot come out and say we did well,” the midfielder conceded.

“But it was our first loss in six games in the league so we don’t need to let our heads go down.

“The next game is crucial for us. We have to keep our heads up, analyse what we did wrong at Brighton and look forward.

“We must look to the next league game against West Ham and make sure we get a result then.”

The Swans started slowly at Brighton and duly conceded on 18 minutes, with Murray netting from the penalty spot after he was fouled by Mike van der Hoorn.

Carvalhal made the bold decision to replace Nathan Dyer with Andre Ayew before half-time, and saw his side improve as the opening 45 minutes wore on.

They had opportunities to level before and after the break, but a positive result looked unlikely from the moment Murray made it 2-0 on 69 minutes.

“We conceded an easy first goal,” Ki added.

“We were in the game after that and passing the ball well, but we were taking risks going forward.

“Brighton hit us on the counter-attack and it was difficult after they made it 2-0. We are disappointed, of course, but we have to look forward.

“In every single game now until the last game of the season, we have to keep fighting and get as many points as we can so we stay in the league.”