Swansea City’s return to the play-off spots may come at a price – the loss through injury of influential skipper Mike van der Hoorn.

The Dutch centre-back was helped off with a recurrence of a knee injury as the Swans beat Charlton 1-0 on Thursday night to move back into the top six of the Championship.

Van der Hoorn is likely to miss Sunday’s FA Cup third round tie at QPR, but the fear for Cooper is that his absence could extend to the derby clash against Cardiff City next week and possibly beyond.

Van der Hoorn has arguably been the Swans’ most important player this season and Cooper said: “It’s the same flare-up of the knee that kept him out from Brentford, so it is frustrating for him.

“We did not see it coming, we gave it time to settle down, he trained in the days leading up to the game. He felt good.

“Mike knows his body, he is an experienced player and he felt fine. But he felt it a bit and needed some treatment at half-time and, fair play to him, he has given his best but not put the team at risk by staying on as an injured player.

“We scanned the knee after Brentford and there is nothing longer term than a flare-up and we hope it settles right down and does not go again.”

Swansea’s erratic season is on an upward curve once more after an early goal from Yan Dhanda moved them into the play-off positions.

The early campaign leaders made it three wins in their last five matches as Charlton failed to find much inspiration from the club’s announcement of a change of ownership.

The Swans went ahead in the 14th minute when former Liverpool youngster Dhana struck a low shot that skidded off the wet surface to deceive goalkeeper Dillon Phillips.

 

Goals this decade:

Yan Dhanda: 1
Messi: 0

And you’re telling me Steve Cooper hasn’t had an impact on English Football? pic.twitter.com/4dMSar733k

— Matty G Mafia (@MattyGMafia) January 2, 2020

Swansea led 1-0 at half-time, but the scoreline was a poor indicator of the true extent of their dominance as they rediscovered some of their best form.

Dhanda’s goal should have been the prelude to at least three more but a carefree attitude to finishing and some exceptional goalkeeping from Phillips meant Charlton were still to be subdued.

The worst offender was Borja Baston, whose skied finish from 10 yards out betrayed the fragile confidence of the Spanish striker who has not scored since September.

At least Borja did not hide and was soon creating an opportunity for Dhanda, but the midfielder also shot over the bar from close range.

Wayne Routledge then set up Andre Ayew, who was brilliantly denied by Phillips before George Byers struck the rebound against the foot of the post.

Charlton attacked with more purpose late on, but lacked the composure to make Swansea pay for some weary defending.

Cooper added: “It’s good to be back to winning ways and get three points.

“I thought in the first half we were excellent. I felt we were as good as we have been here this season. We were good for the 1-0 lead, but the frustration was that it was not two or three.

“We looked a real threat today, I am certainly pleased with some of the football we played. The second half was not a surprise, we’ve had so many games over the festive period.

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“A lot of lads have played a lot of games recently, even though we made changes.

“They were obviously chasing the game so there were some long balls and direct play. We naturally played a bit deeper because we wanted to see out the result.

“I thought we defended it well, although we were not as pure with the ball as the first half.

“I know Freddie Woodman has had a couple of saves to make, but you expect him to make those, there were not any big chances for Charlton. For me, that’s great credit to players.”