End of Season Review: Swansea's 2016-17 Premier League Report Card

With the players Swansea have, they shouldn’t have been involved in a relegation battle.

But, after some poor performances during the first half of the season, Wales’ only top flight side found themselves staring at a possible drop into the Championship.

Thankfully for Swansea, form picked up after Paul Clement’s appointment. Four wins in seven followed and, although a dip in form looked like it had plunged the side into fresh trouble, four victories in their last five matches ensured Swansea survived and condemned Hull to relegation.

The club will definitely be looking to occupy a mid-table spot or better next year, which is generally where they’ve finished since their promotion to the Premier League.

Nothing of note here really.

Swansea evidently weren’t prioritising cup competitions this year, but still made the third round of the EFL Cup after overcoming Peterborough 3-1 thanks to goals from Jay Fulton and Oliver McBurnie, but their next match against Manchester City proved a game step too far, losing 2-1.

One of Paul Clement’s first matches in charge was an FA Cup tie at Hull, a match which they lost 2-0 as Abel Hernandez and Josh Tymon secured the Tigers’ progression.

While Hull may have won that FA Cup battle, Swansea ended up winning the Premier League survival war.

Without their Icelandic magician Swansea may well have been relegated.

Sigurdsson proved himself as one of the finest attacking midfielders in the Premier League this season, contributing nine goals and 13 assists in 38 Premier League appearances, a return that rivals the likes of Christian Eriksen, Kevin De Bruyne and Philippe Coutinho.

At times Sigurdsson has been the only player keeping Swansea in games, with striker Fernando Llorente’s form issues and a lack of goal threat from elsewhere in the team proving detrimental.

Swansea may find it difficult to keep hold of the former Tottenham man, but they need to do everything in their power to make sure he stays at the Liberty Stadium next season.

Honourable mentions include Llorente, January signing Tom Carroll, Gareth McAuley-esque goal machine Alfie Mawson and midfield enforcer Leroy Fer.

Borja Baston was brought in for big bucks in the summer, setting Swansea back a cool £15.5m, but his performances have not come close to repaying that hefty investment.

A return of one Premier League goal in 18 appearances means Baston may not be in Wales come next season, only starting four games and failing to make much of an impact in England’s top flight.

He obviously has talent, having scored 18 La Liga goals for Eibar during the 2015-16 season, but Baston will need to produce more next year should he end up staying at Swansea.

Seeing as Swansea had three managers this season, let’s do this is chronological order.

Francesco Guidolin started the rut and was the first Premier League boss to lose his job after winning just one Premier League match. 

He was replaced by American Bob Bradley, who didn’t fare much better. The former USA coach won two of his 11 matches in charge, with his stint in charge of the Swans being the second shortest managerial reign in Premier League history.

The club’s owners finally got it right with Paul Clement, the former Bayern Munich and Real Madrid assistant manager, who had previously managed Derby.

Clement reinvigorated the players, winning eight games as Gylfi Sigurddson and Fernando Llorente fired the Welsh club to safety.

With players like Sigurdsson and Llorente, Swansea should not have been battling to stay in the Premier League.

While there was rightfully joy and jubilation at seeing Hull relegated, manager Clement will know there is a lot of work to be done in the transfer market and on the training pitch to ensure they are not in the same position next season.

So yes, well done to Swansea’s players and staff members who kept the club in the Premier League, but arguably they never should have been in that position in the first place.

Grade: C-