Why Swansea have all the tools to avoid relegation this season

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This year’s Premier League possesses one of the most interesting relegation battles of recent time. The bottom six consists of the reigning Premier League champions in Leicester City, the goal-less wonder that is Middlesbrough, the quick passing and offensive thinking Hull City, the perennial relegation favorites Sunderland, big Sam Allardyce’s Crystal Palace, and then there is Swansea City.

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The Welsh side appeared to be destined for the drop after Bob Bradley’s disastrous reign, but have picked up the pace and are currently four points clear of the relegation zone after a slew of impressive results. Swansea now appear to be in the clear because of multiple factors: their impressive recruitment during the January transfer window, the hiring of Paul Clement, the quality that already existed at the club, and the weakness of the other clubs hoping to avoid the drop.

January Recruits

In January, many clubs facing the drop tend to buy overpriced players who very rarely make a major impact on the club’s survival status, but Swansea’s new recruit’s have already made an impact. Left-back Martin Olsson has already featured four times in the Premier League and has already scored against fellow relegation candidates Leicester. Creative midfield signing from Tottenham, Tom Carroll, contributed with an assist in Swansea’s shock victory over Liverpool and has started every game since. Luciano Narsingh, a winger signed from PSV Eindhoven, has already contributed two assists in three substitute appearances in the league. These three, along with striker Jordan Ayew, should provide dynamism in attack and give more creativity to a Swansea side that was severely lacking in that department for most of the season.

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Paul Clement

While he doesn’t qualify as a signing, English manager Paul Clement might as well be one. He was officially appointed as Swansea manager on January 3, 2017, and was subsequently named Premier League manager of the month for January. Since he was appointed manager, Clement has won against Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Southampton, and Leicester, with his only losses coming against Arsenal and Manchester City.

Clement has transitioned Swansea from a 4-3-3 into a 4-1-4-1 which has worked much better with the players that they have. This system has allowed star player Gylfi Sigurdsson to have an almost unlimited amount of freedom and has helped solidify a particularly leaky defense. Clement has also lowered the Swans’ reliance on striker Fernando Llorente. In Swansea’s three wins before Clement’s arrival, Llorente scored four goals, but in the four wins since Clement’s arrival, Llorente has scored only twice, both against Liverpool.

This transition of goals is also a very good sign for the Swans because it allows more players the opportunity to win them games instead of Llorente being their singular focal point in attack. Clement has also brought a new sense of dedication and direction to a club that was lacking a bit of both. Altogether, the changes that Clement has made have helped right the ship at Swansea and should hopefully keep them in the Premier League for at least another year.

Existing quality

Pretty much every team that is currently flirting with relegation has at least one player that shouldn’t be facing the drop. For Hull it is Andy Robertson, for Burnley, it’s Michael Keane, for Middlesbrough it’s Ben Gibson, for Sunderland it’s Jermaine Defoe, for Leicester it’s Riyad Mahrez, and for Swansea, it’s Gylfi Sigurdsson. Iceland international Sigurdsson is easily the best player at Swansea and could quite easily fit into most top half sides. His ability to influence the game from the attacking midfield role is a crucial way that Swansea attack. His eight assists and eight goals so far this season have won Swansea multiple games, and his set piece delivery has been crucial to the way Swansea score their goals.

Another player who is crucial to Swansea’s survival hopes is Alfie Mawson. The 23-year-old center back has played 90 minutes in all but three games since he was given his debut in mid-October against Watford and is proving to be one of the best bargain buys of the summer. Mawson contributes on the offensive end of the field as well; his three goals since the turn of the year have also been crucial in Swansea’s recent run of form. These two players, along with the aforementioned Fernando Llorente, and many others, give Swansea a real chance for survival and have already put them on the front foot in the race for safety.

The weakness of their relegation rivals 

Every year there is a different amount of quality at the bottom of the table; last season, the quality was at an averagely high level, besides Aston Villa. This year, that is not the case. Sunderland have been shambolic for pretty much the whole season outside of their matchup against Crystal Palace where they scored four. Hull, Leicester, and Crystal Palace have all been wildly inconsistent this year, and Middlesbrough are the only team in the league this year to have scored under twenty goals. All of these factors mean that Swansea are the best suited to survive the drop, especially since they have an extremely winnable run of fixtures coming up with Burnley, Hull, Bournemouth, and Middlesbrough coming in successive weeks. While this set of fixtures is bookended by Chelsea and Tottenham, Swansea have proven that they are able to play with the big boys thanks to Clement’s new methods and a renewed sense of purpose.