A MASSIVE WIN FOR THE SWANS OVER LEAGUE LEADERS NORWICH.

Swansea had fallen down to third after Brentford's 3-2 win over Bristol during the week so a win for them was crucial, Norwich, who were unbeaten in 7, and also needed a win to see the gap increase at the top.

Steve Cooper's side were in good spirits after their 3-1 win over Rotherham at the weekend and were now looking to make it 11 games unbeaten in all competitions. Their last loss being a 2-0 defeat to Derby back in December.

The first half saw a big reaction from teams with Norwich capitalising on a few counter attacks and Swansea attempting to pass the ball through the yellow shirts at the back. The home side struck first however, with Todd Cantwell setting up Teemu Pukki, only for him to put into narrowly past the post.

The opening goal came from the visitors in the 42nd minute with Andre Ayew netting his first goal in six games and his 9th for the season.

The goal was made fortunate by a Tim Krul error, one that would prove costly. A Conner Roberts corner saw Krul come to claim the ball, only for him to spill it to Marc Guehi. Guehi then proceeded to lay the ball off to Jake Bidwell, with his mishit shot landing at Ayew's feet for a neat turned finish into the bottom corner.

It took only a minute for the home side to respond, Przemyslaw Placheta's freekick found Grant Hanley's head in the box, but Woodman made a good save to deny Hanley his second goal of the season. At half time the Swans continued to lead and Daniel Farke's team needed to ramp things up if they were to rescue points from this game.

However, it took only 3 minutes for Swansea to double their lead through a brilliant 25 yard strike by Conor Hourihane. Jay Fulton was the man with the assist, his pass split Norwich apart and left Hourihane to drive a low hard shot past Krul into the bottom corner.

The Canaries continued to push and find a route back into the game, however no real chances were created and Swansea held the ball up for the majority of the second half. This was Steve Cooper's 2nd successive win and Daniel Farke's 3rd consecutive winless game.

This win for The Swans means there's only 2 points separating them from the top spot, and 4 points for Thomas Frank's Bretford side a team who are also unbeaten in quite a few matches.

Swansea look on to their next match now against premier league leaders Manchester City, where they look to continue this excellent run of form for a major cup upset.

Article By

Harrison Butler