Bob Bradley believes his Spanish strikers possess the firepower to steer Swansea City away from relegation danger.
Swansea come up against their last regular goalscorer on Monday night, with Wilfried Bony leading the Stoke City line at the bet365 Stadium.
Bony scored 34 in 70 appearances before joining Manchester City in January 2015 and Swansea have struggled to fill the void left by the muscular Ivorian.
Wilfried Bony scored 34 in 70 games for Swansea City but will face them for Stoke on Monday.
Spanish pair Fernando Llorente and Borja Baston – the latter Swansea’s record £15.5million signing from Atletico Madrid in August – are now tasked with supplying Premier League goals at the Liberty Stadium.
But they have scored only once apiece so far in stuttering campaigns affected by injury.
Swansea manager Bradley said: ‘Borja was an important signing for the club. He’s still adjusting to a new club and a new league. Fernando has had a little bit of an injury, so we haven’t been able since I arrived to get everything out of him.
‘But I’m hoping we have dangerous players. Gylfi Sigurdsson has found good positions in two matches and scored an excellent goal against Arsenal.
‘We’re trying to taking advantage of the talent we have and improve in terms of creating advantages and know how to score goals and become more of a threat.
‘I certainly am hopeful that with Fernando and Borja we have players with enough talent and that we can turn them into big goalscorers for our team.’
Bob Bradley has backed his misfiring strikers to find form and lift Swansea from 19th place
Bradley also praised Alfie Mawson (left) who impressed on his Premier League debut
Bradley’s first task on succeeding Francesco Guidolin was to shore up a defence which had been guilty of conceding sloppy goals.
The former United States manager’s response last weekend was to drop Federico Fernandez and Jordi Amat and hand opportunities to inexperienced pair Mike van der Hoorn and Alfie Mawson.
Bradley’s reward against Watford was a first Swansea clean sheet since the opening day of the season, with debutant Mawson particularly impressive.
Bradley said : ‘With the US team, Jay DeMerit came to England and worked his way up at Watford. He was a player that no matter who he was up against, as he was leaving the dressing room he’d give you a little wink as if to say “no problem”. He was excited to play against big players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney. It didn’t matter.
‘I see a lot of that in Alfie because he’s not afraid of these situations. I think he’s worked hard and has looked forward to these opportunities.
‘It’s the way top defenders think. He’s not overwhelmed by anything and is excited for the challenge.’
BASTON AT SWANSEA
Cost: £15.5million
Games: 6
Goals: 1 (vs Arsenal in 3-2 Premier League defeat)
Wins: 0
LLORENTE AT SWANSEA
Cost: £5million
Games: 8
Goals: 1 (vs Manchester City in 3-1 Premier League defeat)
Wins: 2
