Paul Clement has told his Swansea City players points collected now mean they can avoid the “suffering” of a late relegation scramble.
Clement takes his resurgent team to Stamford Bridge on Saturday to face Premier League leaders Chelsea, where he spent two spells as a coach.
With the Swans having won three out of their last four league matches – and four from six – Clement has challenged his players to maintain that form in order to avoid the trauma of being dragged back into the scramble for survival.
“I have said to the players that yes we have put ourselves in a good position, but how hard are we willing to work to make sure we continue to improve?” the head coach said.
“How much do we want to avoid suffering at the end of the season? Because unless we keep winning games and progressing up the table, we are going to find ourselves in a position where we need, say, four points from the last two games of the season.”
Swansea are currently four points above the relegation zone in 15th place – a position in sharp contrast to their bottom spot when Clement took over at the start of January.
But he is keen to stress there can be no let up and that a failure to maintain their current surge will land them back in trouble.
“In situations like that, the level of pressure on you is very, very high. We want to keep getting points now to make sure that we don’t end up in that kind of situation, and the next opportunity to get points is at Chelsea.
“We know we are going to have to be at our very best against them, but we are not daunted by the challenge.
“When we went to Liverpool and Manchester City, I don’t think people expected much of us.
“But we won one of those games and were unlucky not to get a positive result in the other, and I think both those teams would say we gave them hard games.
“I think that in this moment, we will give anyone a difficult game.”
The Swans will again be without Ki Sung-Yueng (knee), Nathan Dyer (Achilles) and Jefferson Montero (hamstring) as they go in search of a first ever Premier League victory at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea, who are eight points clear at the top of the table, have lost just one league game on their own patch all season, against Liverpool back in September.
But the Swans took a point off the Blues when they met at the Liberty earlier in the season, and Clement is determined to ensure his team produce another positive display in the return fixture.
“We have to go and be effective and try to put on a good performance,” he said.
“Nobody is expecting us to win. That takes the pressure off to a certain extent.
“But we have to put pressure on ourselves. We are in decent form and we want to continue to improve. That means putting in a good performance even if we do not end up getting the result we all want.”
Clement says he is relishing the prospect of a return to Chelsea.
He worked part-time in the club’s academy between 1995 and 2000 and then returned in a full-time post in 2007, going on to work as Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant boss between 2009 and 2011.
“The last two seasons were very memorable. I was lucky to be part of a special team who won the double in 2010-11, which is something that has not been done often,” Clement added.
“I still keep in touch with some people who work at the club and, although a lot of the players have changed, I know John Terry, David Luiz and Nemanja Matic.
“I have very fond memories of the club and it’s an honour to be going back to coach a team against Chelsea.”
