At the end of last season, Swansea City sat seven points and three places above the relegation zone with a goal difference of -25. It was a turbulent season, but the introduction of Paul Clement as head coach in January – following the shortcomings of Francesco Guidolin and Bob Bradley – saw the win percentage rise from a mere 15.8 percent along with three draws through 19 games, to a mighty 47.4% win rate as well as two draws.
While the goals have been lacking, Swansea to be in decent shape to avoid relegation this season, despite being one of the early favorites to go down. Now the bookies feel that Huddersfield Town, Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace are more likely to go down than Swansea.
Swansea’s opening schedule was a tough run of games, facing the likes of Manchester United, Southampton, Crystal Palace, and Newcastle. But, only one of their first eight games that ended in a loss was by more than a single goal, 4-0 while hosting title challengers Manchester United. The defense has been particularly impressive, as has the goalkeeper.
Full-back Kyle Naughton, center-back Federico Fernandez, and goalie Lukasz Fabianski have been very strong through eight games, with the team’s top scorer, Tammy Abraham, also impressing with his four Premier League goals despite being just 20-years-old. While Abraham has been good in front of goal, Swansea has struggled to score with only five goals in eight games.
The main aspect thus far is that the Swans have managed to pull off big results against fellow relegation candidates. A 2-0 win against Crystal Palace in their third game showed that Swansea are significantly better than the team placed at the bottom of the table through eight games, and their emphatic 2-0 win over Huddersfield also proved a point.
Huddersfield got off to a very good start but have struggled to score often. As predicted in the game preview by Oddschecker, Swansea’s game with Huddersfield was a very close one; the difference being Swansea’s solid defense and Abraham’s individual quality. Their two wins show a clear distinction between the Welsh side and others expected to battle to avoid the drop.
Also, with six goals in two EFL Cup games from Jordan Ayew, Leroy Fer, Alfie Mawson, and Abraham, they just need to wait for the attack to click in the Premier League, while the solid defense sits and stands firm to cover.
Despite the stats sheet, the team is packed with attack-minded players who put the ball in the box, run at defenders, and score goals. Swansea has potent strikers like Tammy Abraham and Wilfried Bony on the team, as well as keen playmakers in Tom Carroll, Leroy Fer, Renato Sanches, Wayne Routledge, and Luciano Narsingh; the goals will come.
There are teams both above and below Swansea in the league table who aren’t where they should be and are expected to rise and fall as the fixture sheet thins out. But the Swans look primed to sit happily in the mid-bottom half of the table, avoiding relegation by picking up key results.
