Monk defiant but Swansea’s form says a relegation battle is coming
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Their manager may say otherwise, but on current form it’s becoming more and more apparent that Swansea City could yet be involved in a relegation dogfight in the latter parts of the season.
Garry Monk has played down suggestions that his side are in danger of being dragged into the bottom three despite sitting just four points above Bournemouth in 18th place.
“There’s never any danger of the team being in a relegation fight. But of course we need to get points and we need to get points as quickly as possible,” Monk said after his team’s defeat to Liverpool.
That 1-0 reverse means that the Swans have now picked up just six points from their last 10 Premier League matches.
Even more worrying for fans of the Welsh outfit is that only basement side Aston Villa have accrued fewer points in that same period.
After starting the campaign well – ascending to as high as fourth at one point – Swansea were as big as 50/1 to face the drop with Ladbrokes, but their current form has seen the bookies forced to slash their odds to their current offering of 8/1.
And while the attacking trio of Bafetimbi Gomis, Andre Ayew and Jefferson Montero were a potent force earlier in the campaign, City have drawn a blank in six of their last 10 league fixtures.
Throw in that they have failed to record a shot on target in two of their last three fixtures, and it’s clear that something needs a shake-up at the Liberty Stadium.
The man in charge tried to change things up against Liverpool on Sunday, with Eder leading the line at Anfield, but to no avail.
Monk got the vote of confidence from the board earlier this month, when he was backed into 1/3 to be the next Premier League manager to go, but he still remains 5/4 second-favourite to be handed his P45 before any other top-flight manager.
Matches against the top-two in the division are up next for Swansea in what will be a test of both Monk’s resolve and the teams credentials for the rest of the season.
A victory against Manchester United as well as points picked up against Chelsea, Everton and Tottenham show that the quality is there, but they need to start showing it if they are to do exactly what their manager says they are in no danger of doing.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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