Swansea City vs Middlesbrough. Premier League.
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Sunday 2 April 2017 21:09, UK
Swansea boss Paul Clement has set his players a challenging points target for Premier League survival ahead of the visit of Middlesbrough on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
Forty points is typically enough for safety and Swansea are 13 short of that mark with nine games remaining.
But Clement wants more than the 42 points West Ham were relegated with at the end of the 2002-03 season - the most that any side has gone down with in a 38-game campaign.
"The highest number of points a team has gone down with is 42, so we need more than that," head coach Clement said. "There is pressure (in the run-in), we all feel it, but it should not be used as a negative.
"Pressure is a good thing, it keeps you alert and your mind focused on the task at hand. And our task is to try and get more than those 42 points."
Victory would move Swansea eight points clear of Middlesbrough, although the north-east side do have a game in hand.
"(Losing) would put them in a difficult situation," Clement said. "It would not be over for them, but it would make things more difficult.
"We seem to have this conversation every week about how important the game is. We had it against Palace in my first game, we had it against Leicester, Burnley, Hull and Bournemouth. This is no different."
Swansea appeared as if they were dragging themselves away from danger when Clement won five of his first eight games following his appointment at the start of January.
But successive defeats to Hull and Bournemouth have left them only three points above the relegation zone.
"The fact we didn't pick up anything in the last two games (means) it's important to get points back on the board again," Clement said.
"We're going to use our home form momentum to do our very best to do that."
Middlesbrough head-coach Steve Agnew boosted his coaching team this week when he brought former England defender Jonathan Woodgate back to his home-town club, and he revealed the 37-year-old is already having an impact.
"He's a positive person, Jonathan. He comes in early on a morning and he leaves late at night," Agnew said.
"He's got a big smile on his face and his involvement with the players on the training ground, in the restaurant upstairs, up and down the corridors, as the rest of the staff are with everybody, is really, really positive."
Swansea welcome back Kyle Naughton and Martin Olsson. Right-back Naughton has missed the last two games with a hamstring problem, while Olsson sat out the 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth before the international break due to an ankle injury.
Ki Sung-yueng, Jefferson Montero and Kristoffer Nordfeldt were the last three Swansea players to return from international duty and all are likely to be on the bench.
Meanwhile, central defender Daniel Ayala will return to the Middlesbrough squad for the trip to South Wales.
Ayala, who has made just two league appearances since October because of injury and limped out of the 2-0 defeat at Stoke on March 4 with a hamstring problem, has returned to training and is in contention to play at the Liberty Stadium.
Uruguay striker Cristhian Stuani is also available after recovering from his exertions on international duty, but defenders George Friend (calf) and Calum Chambers (foot) are still out.
Middlesbrough have lost three of their last four matches against the Swans in all competitions, but did beat Bob Bradley's outfit in December 3-0.
Swansea have won both of their last two home games against Middlesbrough in all competitions by a 1-0 scoreline. They have never kept three consecutive clean sheets against Boro on home soil.
Middlesbrough's win in the reverse fixture is the only time this season they've managed to score more than twice in a Premier League match.
Swansea's Premier League games have seen a league-high 99 goals scored this season, while Middlesbrough's matches have seen the fewest (53).
Middlesbrough have conceded just 33 goals this season in the Premier League - fewer than both Liverpool (36) and Arsenal (34) coming in to this matchday.
Boro have made the lowest proportion of passes in the final third of the pitch this season (24.5 per cent), while Swansea are the third lowest in this category (28.1 per cent).
This is another huge game. Boro have the biggest week of their season so far, going to Hull after this and then hosting Burnley next weekend.
This is a must-win game for them, and Swansea have hit a brick wall too. I don't think a draw helps anybody, but I fancy it. There was a big improvement from Boro against Manchester United, but they had nothing to lose. They have plenty to lose this week.
I'm not sure the change of management will be enough for them. Swansea are their nearest challengers, and if they don't beat them, they kick clear, and that could be it for Boro.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1, 5/1 with Sky Bet
The Swans have hit a bit of sticky patch under new manager Paul Clement after losing their last two games but are odds-on at 19/20 with Sky Bet to return to form with three points at the Liberty Stadium. The wheels have come off Boro too with three Premier League defeats on the spin which leaves them second bottom and they can be backed at 3/1 for a vital victory with a draw on offer at 12/5.
The visitors did manage to beat Swansea 3-0 earlier in the campaign and another such outcome is 50/1 while Alvaro Negredo netted a brace on that occasion - he is 14/1 to repeat the trick and 13/2 to be the first goalscorer.
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