?Paul Clement has hailed Swansea’s mammoth 2-0 victory over Sunderland as a “really big win” as the club edge closer to Premier League safety.
Fernando Llorente and Kyle Naughton notched the first-half goals that handed the Swans a rare triumph on the road, and heaped a huge amount of pressure on fellow relegation strugglers Hull ahead of their clash with Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Clement told Swansea’s ?official website that he was immensely proud of the performance from his first-team squad at the Stadium of Light and believes his players have finally embraced the pressure of retaining their top flight status in the past few weeks.
He beamed: “This is a really big win for us at a crucial point in the season. We got a lot of the work done in the first half, where we played well. The early goal gave us a lift – we had confidence to go and play.
“I would have been happy with 1-0 at half-time, but a great moment just before the whistle gave us the platform to get a victory.
“The second half was not so pretty, but we defended well and managed to get the job done. Overall, it’s a really good day for us at a big moment in the season.
PL table since Clement’s arrival on 3 Jan (bottom with 12pts from 19) would have Swansea in 7th with 26pts from 18 games. Superb turnaround
— Stuart James (@StuartJamesGNM) 13 May 2017
“This team were criticised for not dealing with the pressure when we went through the difficult run where we only took one point from six matches.“But you have to learn to deal with that pressure – you have to embrace it. I think the players have done that in the last few weeks.”
Clement, who confirmed that he would sit down on Sunday and watch Hull’s clash with the Eagles at Selhurst Park, did issue a warning to his players about thinking the job was done, and urged them to maintain their focus heading into their final match of the season against a tough West Brom outfit.
He added: “We don’t think the job is done. That would be unprofessional.
“We have to see what happens tomorrow and then get back on the training ground and prepare for an important game next Sunday.
“I have spoken to the players about it already. We will see what happens, but whatever does happen, we have to prepare for West Brom.”
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Paul Clement is one big reason why I want Swansea to stay up. One of few British managers who has done his 10,000 hours internationally.
— #FindingYourForté (@Ceepz) 6 May 2017
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