BRENDAN Rodgers reckons the "five values of Swansea City" are driving his team towards Premier League survival.

Swansea are in their best form since they climbed into the top flight, having taken ten points from their last five league outings to cement their place in mid-table.

And Rodgers believes his team's recent successes are a result of the qualities which run through the core of his squad.

"I think we have shown all the values that we have as a team," says the Swansea manager.

"We talk about the five values of this group.

"We are talking there about excellence — always striving to be better every day, which is important.

"We are talking about pride in the shirt and defending the culture of the club, which I think you can see every week in every player because of the intensity they bring to each game.

"Then there is unity which is also apparent I think. You can never fly alone, and we are a group that really is unified.

"Then we have our integrity and lastly our style, which are two things we try to promote at Swansea City."

Swansea triumphed at West Bromwich Albion last weekend courtesy of yet another rousing display.

The performance level has been there for much of the season, though Rodgers's men have not always come away with the points to match the quality of their displays — most notably when they have played outside SA1.

But things have all come together in recent weeks, the impressive draw with Tottenham on New Year's Eve kicking off Swansea's best sequence since they escaped the Championship.

Since then they have racked up wins over Aston Villa, Arsenal and the Baggies, plus a draw with Chelsea — which the Blues salvaged in stoppage time — and an unfortunate defeat at Sunderland.

"Like I say, I think you are seeing our values come through at the moment," Rodgers continues.

"They are really what we stand for as a club.

"We want to win games like anyone does, but we want to do that while being a sporting team.

"I think that's the nature of this club. These values are very much part of Swansea, and humility is very important to us.

"The adulation the players are getting right now is great, but we certainly won't be getting carried away."

With 30 points now in the bag, Swansea are only ten away from the magic number which traditionally secures a team's top-flight status.

Given that they still have 14 of their 38 league games to play, the indications are that Rodgers's men will defy the odds by staying up this season.

The likes of Wigan, Bolton, Blackburn and Wolves have all been toiling at the wrong end of the table throughout the campaign to date and, as things stand, it would be a surprise if any of them were to finish above Swansea.

While others struggle, Rodgers's side are playing with a confidence and belief that was not in place at the start of the season, having proved that their unique brand of football can cause problems for even the biggest clubs in the top division.

But Swansea's bright young boss has again moved to reject talk that his team's business for this term is all but done.

"The players are getting a great reward at the moment for all the work they are putting in," Rodgers adds.

"But we have still got to keep on improving.

"We have got to keep challenging ourselves to be better, and to find different solutions to get results.

"As long as we maintain the motivation and concentration that we have shown for the majority of the season, I believe we will continue to improve."

Swansea will do well to better their form since the turn of the year.

Extraordinarily well, in fact.

An average return of two points per game in the top tier is a remarkable one for almost any side, never mind a team who were dismissed as no-hopers in some quarters at the start of the season.

If Swansea could come close to matching that sort of points ratio from now on in, Rodgers would surely be the leading contender to be named English football's manager of the year.

"We strive for consistency in our game, and to be able to find that sort of consistency at this level is very pleasing," he says.

"It is an even more impressive run of results for the players when you consider the opponents they have faced.

"But, like I say, we won't be getting carried away.

"Our job is to continue improving and that's what we are focusing on."

Swansea are one of the unlikely success stories in the Premier League this season, leading their chairman to concede this week that Rodgers is likely to be on the radar of bigger clubs when jobs come up.

Another next-generation manager whose efforts are turning heads will be in the away dugout at the Liberty Stadium this weekend.

Like Rodgers, Paul Lambert has won considerable praise for the progress he has masterminded at Norwich City.

Promoted automatically ahead of Swansea last season, Norwich have joined their fellow new-boys in putting Premier League noses out of joint in 2011-12.

There were few at the start of the season who looked at this Saturday's fixture and forecast a mid-table battle.

If Swansea can win it, they may be only a couple of results away from achieving their goal for this campaign.

Rodgers, though, claims he is not contemplating the milestone that is 40 points.

"I am not thinking about how many points it will take to stay up to be honest," he says.

"I am thinking about trying to accumulate as many points as we possibly can, and that starts with our next game."