'We deserved more'

Carlos Carvalhal insisted he was pleased with his players – and the fans – despite Swansea City’s 1-0 loss to Chelsea.

The Swans’ first home Premier League defeat since January, coupled with Southampton’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth, means the gap between Carvalhal’s team and the bottom three is down to just one point.

But the Swans boss had no complaints over the nature of his side’s performance – and believes more of the same will see them stay up.

“The negative today is that we lost the game,” Carvalhal said.

“But the positives are that we played against a strong team like the strong teams would play against them.

“We played them face to face. We tried to play with the ball and we tried to play with quality. We never played long balls.

“We were better in the second half than in the first because we corrected the position of our midfielders. We then tried to play more players in attack – we finished with four attackers on the pitch.

“I am very happy with the performance and the commitment. My players played with heart and I am very happy also with the fans.

“When the players give everything, they play with quality and they create chances, I must be happy with them.

“In general I think we did enough to achieve minimum one point. If we carry on playing like that, it’s sure that we will win the points we need.”

The Swans got off to the worst possible start against Chelsea as Cesc Fabregas put the visitors in front after just four minutes.

The home side were right in the contest throughout, and created a flurry of chances to get back into the game in the final 20 minutes.

But Andre Ayew, Jordan Ayew, Tom Carroll, Alfie Mawson, Kyle Naughton and Wayne Routledge were all denied as last season’s champions held on for a narrow victory.

“All the teams at the bottom are playing under pressure,” Carvalhal added.

“We were playing under pressure today and we gave good answers. If we keep playing like that it will be very welcome because we are in a good position to stay in the division.

“We must keep the momentum in the last games because if we play like that, we will stay in the Premier League.”

The Swans saw a penalty appeal turned down late on as Gary Cahill slid in on Nathan Dyer in the box.

“I saw it,” Carvalhal said. “The defender tries to get the ball but he doesn’t see Dyer. He takes the ball and Dyer together.

“Outside the area it’s a foul, so in the area it must be a penalty.”