Paul Clement insists there are no alarm bells ringing at Swansea City even though their cushion above the relegation zone has been halved to just two points.
The Swans head coach remains convinced his team can keep out of trouble and has pinpointed the next four matches – all against fellow strugglers – as significant opportunities.
Swansea face Burnley at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday, with a two-point lead over Crystal Palace, the club occupying 18th place in the table. Prior to the Swans’ defeat to Chelsea, and the points picked up by Palace and Hull City, the lead had stood at four points.
But Clement said: “I don’t think the tension or stress has increased or decreased.
“This is a very important game against Burnley, one we are striving to win. We have won our last two home games, against Leicester and Southampton, arguably against teams we were in with a shout of doing better against, and that is the state of play here as well.”
After Burnley, Clement’s team face Hull, Bournemouth and Middlesbrough – all clubs within five points of each other.
Clement added: “We are all very aware of the run we have coming now with the three games in March and the Middlesbrough game going into April.
“We have come off the back end of a difficult run of games having played Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea away and Arsenal here at home.
“We picked up a good amount of points in and around us and that is what we are going to have to do on Saturday. We are very aware that this a very crucial period this run of four games, but we are really only focusing on getting a result against Burnley.”
The Swans’ resurgence has coincided not only with the arrival of Clement from his assistant role Bayern Munich, but also with his recruitment of Claude Makelele as one of his coaches.
The influence of the former Chelsea midfielder has been highlighted by a number of players and Clement has revealed he hope to start talks soon over extending Makelele’s contract beyond the end of the season.
He added: “We have not had discussions but I don’t think they will be too far away.
“He’s enjoying it here, he comes in every day with a lot of energy, a positive attitude and a smile on his face. Those are the kind of characters and personalities we need around us at the moment.”
Clement says the return to training of winger Jefferson Montero has come too late for him to be considered for the Burnley match, but he could make his comeback from a hamstring injury the following week at Hull.
