Monk Taking It One Game At A Time

The game signifies the last game of a hectic period for the Swans but the enforced two weeks rest after tomorrow will be a welcome break as they push towards the points requirement they want to stay in the Premier League for next season.

Arsenal’s progress in the FA Cup and our demise in Europe means that after tomorrow we have to wait until 15th March for our next competitive game when West Brom visit the Liberty. Two wins in those games will go a massive way to ensuring Premier League safety for that fourth season and also provide us with our first back to back league wins since December 2012.

But Monk is not looking forward to the second fixture and is taking each game one at a time starting with tomorrow’s game where he could secure his second win since taking charge of the Swans last month.

“All I have thought about since coming in is winning the next game,” said Monk.

“Mathematically people say 40 points will mean you are safe, and that is true. But I don’t look at it like that, it’s just about the next game and we have got put all our effort into beating Crystal Palace.”

The Swans can count themselves unlucky to have lost their last two games having pushed Liverpool and Napoli all the way as well as a brilliant performance at home against the Italians although that only ended in a goalless draw in game that the Swans dominated.

And the experience picked up in the two games against Napoli is something that Monk hopes will stand his side in good stead for the challenges to come

“If the players can’t take belief from the games we’ve had against Napoli, I don’t know where they will get it from. They have been fantastic; now we have to keep the momentum going.

“If we perform like we did against Napoli, we will win more games than we lose.

“There is no need to pick them (the players) up, they are picking themselves up. The focus is on Palace and we will use what we did against Napoli as a positive.

“It would be different if you went there and got outplayed and got badly beaten. Then we would have a hard job picking the players up, but that is not the way it went.

“We can take the disappointment of going out in Europe going into Sunday. Hopefully we will get the reaction we want after a disappointment.”