Carlos Carvalhal believes the miracle can begin at home to Liverpool on Monday night as Swansea City plot an escape route from relegation.
The Swansea City manager sends his players in search of their first home Premier League win under his charge against a team who have not lost for 18 matches.
Carvalhal has had a decent start since he took over from Paul Clement and the statistic he justifiably points to as evidence of improvement is just one defeat in five matches.
But two of those five games – the draw and then subsequent victory over Wolves – were in the FA Cup and the Portuguese does not need reminding he was not hired to bring success in that competition.
If Swansea lose to Jurgen Klopp’s side then Carvalhal’s Premier League record across four games would stand at one win, one draw and two defeats. In other words, he would be averaging a point per game, the kind of return that is normally just about good enough to avoid relegation in most seasons.
But Swansea need better than that, having only mustered 17 points from 23 games so far.
Carvalhal has suggested Swansea will need to win around seven of their remaining 15 matches to avoid the drop, with Arsenal at home and Leicester City away to follow after the Liverpool game.
“I don’t do accounts, so I don’t know but I would say around 50 per cent of the games is the minimum, which is a big challenge,” says Carvalhal.
“It is not new to me. If the sequence of what we have done in these five games carries on in the Premier League we can achieve it. But even if you are six or seven points away, if you improve the team and are solid and compact, and even being near winning the games, you can win three or four in a row because you are building in a good way.
“We knew since the beginning this is a difficult challenge but we are ready for it.
The Swans are still without any reinforcements in the January transfer window.
Carlos the Jack has admitted his targets scan the table and then feel a sudden urge to turn up their noses, rather than roll up their sleeves.
But even though they are now six points from safety Carvalhal says: “We fight to the end.
“If I didn’t believe, then it would be better for me to finish now and the club can prepare for next season.
“When we are refreshed and if we play at our top level for 90 minutes, then it will be difficult for any opponents to beat us.”
“If the thing is still progressing, and we can get the injured players recovered – like Tammy (Abraham) and Renato (Sanches) – then we can create belief and commitment.
“The signs are positive. But to jump to another level, we need two or three players to solve the problems we have in the team.”
But recruitment – or fishing trips as the seafood-loving Portuguese likes to call them – has proved difficult. The likes of Atletico Madrid pair Nicolas Gaitan and Kevin Gameiro plus Ajax winger Amin Younes have so far refused to bite.
Carvalhal admits: “The problem is not all players want to come to teams who are in difficult circumstances.
“If they come and the team don’t stay in the Premier League – what then? It is not easy. It is very difficult to achieve new signings.”
That means Carvalhal is likely to ask Wilfried Bony to lead the line against Liverpool, even though the striker has been feeling his way back to fitness after injury.
Bony scored the winner in midweek in the 2-1 victory over Wolves, but Carvalhal admits he wishes the Ivorian had more in his armoury to fire at £75m Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk.
“I think Bony is on the process to be at the level that all of us want from him – but he is still in the process.”
