by John Fanning

Francesco Guidolin tasted defeat for the first in the Premier League, as Swansea’s defensive frailties were once again on show against the in-form Southampton.

Shane Long’s header, around 20 minutes from time ended Swansea’s unbeaten run of four matches, and was the first defeat since the appointment of Guidolin back in January. Whilst they did not concede from a set-piece today, a goal was ruled out for a foul on Lukasz Fatbianksi by Graziano Pelle from a corner, as Swansea were relieved to hear the whistle of referee Jon Moss. They were undone instead from the aerial threat that Southampton posed with James Ward-Prowse a constant threat with his delivery, with Ward-Prowse providing a prefect cross for Long to head home, despite the best efforts of Fabianski who managed to get a hand to it, but to no avail.

Even more impressive than Southampton’s attacking play was their organisation in defence, with today’s clean sheet being their sixth in a row, one short of their Premier League record, and two short of their all-time record. Fraser Forster was a near spectator in goal for the afternoon as Swansea mustered just two efforts on target with his only save being a weak header from Andre Ayew. The back three of Van Dijk, Fonte and Bertrand were able to deal with everything Swansea had to throw at them today, it is now 540 minutes since they have last conceded. The biggest cry of the afternoon from the home fans, which was in the form of a penalty appeal, came right at the end when Maya Yoshida, who had just come on as a substitute lunged in on new signing Alberto Paloschi, Moss however was unmoved.

Guidolin, who cut an animated figure on the touchline throughout the match, bellowing instructions, was unhappy with his side’s performance, “for the first time since coming here my team did not play well, I was sure I would see a good performance because we worked hard during the week. I don’t know why we didn’t play well”.

On the other hand, Ronald Koeman, was satisfied with his team’s performance, “the aspiration is to finish as high as possible. If Leicester can win the title then we can finish fourth or fifth. He also believes Swansea will have no trouble in staying up, “I think they are too good, too strong to be relegated. If I compare them to other teams, I think they have a strong team.”

It doesn’t get any easier for Swansea who face a couple of visits to London against two of this seasons contenders for the title, Tottenham and Arsenal. Despite lying just three points above the relegation zone, Guidolin is still very much confident that Swansea will avoid the drop, citing the immediate improvement in the league, “when I arrived, the table was worse, I don’t think about the table, only about how we can improve our performance. I think we have only got to think match by match.”

Teams: Swansea – Fabianksi, Rangel (Naughton), Fernandez, Williams, Taylor, Britton (Gomis), Cork, Ayew, Sigurdsson, Routledge (Barrow), Paloschi

Southampton – Forster, Van Dijk, Fonte, Bertrand, Clasie, Davis, Ward-Prowse, Romeu (Soares), Targett (Yoshida), Pelle (Austin), Long

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