Ashley Williams wants Swansea City to play catch-up ahead of West Brom test
ASHLEY Williams has urged Swansea City to play catch-up from here on in as they look to finish the Premier League season in style.
Swansea are a lofty eighth in the top flight after last weekend's win over Newcastle United took them to 40 points.
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Ashley Williams is set to wear the armband again for Swansea’s visit to Aston Villa this weekend —but Garry Monk will remain captain as long as he is at the club says Michael Laudrup
With the Capital One Cup — and European qualification — already in the bag, this season will go down as one of Swansea's finest regardless of what comes next.
But having seen how Brendan Rodgers's side tailed off last term, boss Michael Laudrup is determined to ensure his players do not ease off in the ten league games that remain.
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And defensive colossus Williams is convinced Swansea will keep pushing right through until May 19.
"The manager spotted we fell off last year, but we knew that as a team anyway," the centre-back said.
"Mentally we got to a stage where we took our feet off the gas a little and it showed, but it's different now.
"We haven't looked at relegation all season, it's been irrelevant for us.
"I don't think we have thought about as a team, and I know I haven't personally.
"I couldn't tell you how many points we are off relegation or anything like that.
"That's a mixture of the confidence we've had and the fact we've not really been down there at all this season so there's been no need to think about it.
"We're in a healthy position. That's a credit to us and we're trying to look upwards.
"Brendan had the same message last year.
"We know if we can keep looking up and try to catch the next team we will have plenty of motivation for the rest of the season."
Swansea's next league assignment comes at West Brom, a side who are below them only on goal difference, this weekend.
Laudrup's men still have to face the current top five before the season is out, while there are also fixtures to come against relegation candidates like Southampton and Wigan.
There is less pressure on Swansea than most, but the likes of Liverpool (two points ahead), Everton (five points) and Arsenal (seven) are in their sights.
"We've never really looked behind us, we've always tried to look ahead and at closing down on the teams ahead of us," Williams added.
"But it is nice to have got to 40 points because it can be a bit of a mental thing and it's good to get there.
"We knew it would be a big three points for us against Newcastle if we could get the win, especially with some difficult fixtures coming up.
"We looked at our schedule before the game and we realised it will be a tough period so we wanted to get that win at home while we could.
"Looking at the game from last season against Newcastle, you can really see the progression of the team."
2 Comments
by immigrant1
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 1:10PM
“Swans are playing WBA, not Aston Villa. Get it right EP.”
by hacker_jack
Tuesday, March 05 2013, 12:36PM
“That is all fine except for one thing. They did not ease off last season, they did not even tail off.
The last 12 games last season yielded a record of 5 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses (1.42 points per game) compared to the firs 26 being 7 Wins, 9 draws and 10 losses (1.15 ppg). Of the 5 losses in those 12 games, 4 of them were to teams who finished in the top 7, only the loss to QPR would have been a disappointment in real terms.
The final resting place of 11th is higher than the team were for the majority of the season. with only a few weeks spent in 10th and one single week in 8th (after the Fulham win in March and with teams behind us having games in hand).
I appreciate what Williams is trying to do by saying what he did, but other than the QPR game and possible Wolves (4-4 draw) it is BS.”