'There are better days ahead'

17th March
First team

Carlos Carvalhal is convinced there are happier days ahead despite seeing Swansea City’s Emirates FA Cup adventure come to an end against Tottenham Hotspur.

Carvalhal had hoped to become only the third manager in history to lead the Swans into the semi-finals of this competition.

But a depleted Swans side failed to find top gear and finished up well beaten in the club’s first quarter-final since 1964.

Christian Eriksen scored twice for the visitors, with Erik Lamela also on target in what was a comfortable 3-0 win for Mauricio Pochettino’s team.

But while he was disappointed to see what has been an enjoyable cup run come to an end, Carvalhal is confident smiles will return to his players’ faces when they get back to Premier League action later this month.

“A storm came today and after that storm will come some good weather,” said the Swans manager.

“The storm came against a very good side, but this game has not done any damage to us and we will focus now on trying to stay in the Premier League.

“That is our main competition and staying in the league is what we want – that has been our aim since we came in.

“We have always been focused on the Premier League. We also tried to do well in the cup and we picked a strong team today.

“Kris (Nordfeldt) has done very well in the cup so we kept him in, and Kyle Bartley has played all the way through the run and we felt he must also be involved.

“We picked the best team we could but we lost to a very good opponent.

“Now we have our main competition where we have eight finals ahead of us and we must win some games to try to stay in the Premier League.

“It will be hard, but one thing which is absolutely sure is that this game will not do any damage.”