Paul Clement believes Swansea City fans would be right to celebrate Premier League survival if the club deliver it this weekend.
The Swans head coach is taking nothing for granted but if his team win at Sunderland on Saturday and Hull City lose as Crystal Palace a day later, then a seventh season in the top flight will be guaranteed.
It would be the club’s lowest Premier League finish in those seven years – 17th – but Clement insists that set against the backdrop of a traumatic campaign, supporters would be right to feel it was something to shout about.
He said: “Overall, if you look back right to the start of the season and you had said if Swansea stay up there will be massive celebrations, people would have said that’s not right.
“But, in context – three managers in one year, bottom of the Premier League at halfway, and a massive number of goals conceded – in that context, absolutely, yes, we can celebrate.”
But Clement has promised his still relegation-threatened squad will not be complacent when they face bottom-of-the-league Sunderland.
David Moyes’ side have already been relegated from the Premier League having won just six games all season, but stunned Hull last weekend with an unexpected victory that hauled The Tigers into the drop zone.
“They (Sunderland) stopped Hull getting valuable points and also it shows us they’re still working hard,” Clement added.
“It’s Sunderland’s last game of the season at the Stadium of Light and maybe it’s the last game for some players there.”
Swansea sit just one place and one point above the relegation zone and Clement said he expected to face a determined Sunderland.
“They’ve got a good manager who is competitive and they’re going to want to finish off strongly, so mentally we’re prepared for a very tough, tough game,” he said.
Clement confirmed full back Angel Rangel has resumed training after recovering from a metatarsal fracture, while winger Wayne Routledge could be available for the game having missed the last four with a hernia problem.
“Medically, they’re fine. It’s just a matter now of whether they’ve got enough conditioning into them and that final bit of fitness for the last two games.
“It’s possible (Routledge could play). He’s trained the last couple of days and we’ve one more session going into the game against Sunderland. We’ll make a decision tomorrow.
“It’s possible it could be settled this weekend, but there’s lots of different scenarios. We’re focused on taking care of business on Saturday and not looking forward.
“We will try and get the right result and if we do it will put a lot of pressure on not only Hull, but Palace. There possibly could be a twist there when they play each other, but we just want to make sure we will have done our job.”
The club has announced it will cover the tickets for all the 3,000 supporters travelling to the Stadium of Light and provide food vouchers, too.
