<
>

Swansea boss Carlos Carvalhal calls for reaction from struggling squad

Carlos Carvalhal has urged his struggling Swansea players to make home advantage count in their vital Premier League clash with Southampton on Tuesday.

Swansea are now seven games without win after losing 1-0 at Bournemouth on Saturday, with Southampton's draw at Everton sending the Swans back into the relegation zone.

They can still save themselves by beating Southampton and drawing with Stoke on the final day, but defeat against the Saints would mean they can only stay up on goal difference.

The mood in the camp was low after the Vitality Stadium defeat, but Carvalhal wants his side to come out firing.

"After a game that we lose, everyone is sad of course,'' he said. "But tomorrow is another day and we will react and Tuesday, we must be at the top.

"This is the main point. And they know about that. They know they must react very fast."

Swansea can tale solace from their impressive home form where they have only been beaten in the league by Tottenham and Chelsea in the league since Carvalhal came in at the end of 2017.

"Since we arrive, all the games we play at home, we perform really well,'' he added. "All of them. Possibly the cup game against Tottenham [lost 3-0] was the game that was hard for us. All the others, we dominated and were better than our opponents.

"Even Chelsea, if you saw the game you can see we dominated the game and we could achieve much more. I don't have any reason to doubt we can do it on Tuesday.

"My players will give the maximum, the fans will give the maximum, and when we play in Liberty, usually, we are a strong team, and it is our [plan] to be a strong team on Tuesday.''

Kyle Naughton could return to the squad after a stomach bug kept him out of the Bournemouth game, while Sam Clucas is in contention for a starting place after nursing a knock.