Paul Clement says the month of March will decide Swansea City’s future in the Premier League.
The Swans head coach watxcehd his team lose 3-1 at leaders Chelsea on Saturday, but believes the blow is not a decisive one to their chances of avoding relegation.
The club have seen their cushion from the relegation places trimmed from four points to three – and it could be reduced further if Leicester City get something from their game at home to Liverpool on Monday night.
Back at his former club, Clement said: “March is going to be a critical month, but our confidence is still high and there’s no reason for it to be damaged today.
“We now go into a very important run of games playing Burnley, Hull, Bournemouth and Middlesbrough – teams a lot closer to us. It’s a very important time.”
Clement believes referee Neil Swarbrick’s failure to award his Swansea City side a penalty was a key moment in their defeat at Stamford Bridge.
With the scores level at 1-1 in the 69th minute, after Fernando Llorente had cancelled out Cesc Fabregas’ opener, a Gylfi Sigurdsson flick struck the arm of Cesar Azpilicueta.
Swarbrick waved play on however, and within a minute Pedro had put the Premier League leaders ahead again before Diego Costa wrapped up the win late on.
Clement told Sky Sports: “We did have a very good claim for a penalty, and the score was 1-1 at the time.
“Sigurdsson’s lifted it and I thought at the time Azpilicueta had handled it. Having had a second look on the video close-up it’s clearly a handball.
“We didn’t have very many chances and they clearly had a lot of chances, but defensively we frustrated them for long periods and we can be happy with work we put in. The players put a big shift in physically.
“But then clearly when it’s 1-1 and you’ve got a big penalty shout and the game goes on to be 3-1 against you, you’re going to feel very disappointed.
“On reflection, they’ve had a lot more chances and a lot more of the ball, so probably deserved the victory, but we defended resolutely for long periods, made it difficult.
“It was ‘game on’ at 1-1 and it was a big moment for us. I think the referee has a good view of it but what’s the point of asking him about it because he didn’t give it.”
Swansea have now been beaten three times in the league since Clement’s appointment last month, losing to Arsenal, Manchester City and now Antonio Conte’s side.
A tough run of games also included a trip to Liverpool, where they were 3-2 winners, but they now face four successive fixtures against relegation rivals.