Fernando Llorente has stressed he needs to keep scoring if Swansea City are to stay in the Premier League.
The Spanish striker scored the first goal in his team’s crucial 2-0 victory over Stoke City on Saturday – a result that reversed the Swans’ recent slide and maintained the pressure on fellow strugglers Hull City.
It was Llorente’s first goal for five matches, although his 12th of the season, and he has vowed to contribute more in their four remaining matches – starting with Manchester United at Old Trafford next Sunday.
“I am very happy to score a goal,” Llorente said. “Stoke was a massive match and to get the win was so important for us.
“It was nice to score early on in the game because it helped the team. It gave us all some confidence.
“But now I have to continue to score to help us avoid relegation. We have four games left and I hope to score a few more.”
“We have a very difficult match at Old Trafford next but we have to try to continue after the Stoke win.
“We want to try to win again. All the players can take confidence from Stoke because we played well from the start.
“The last few results have not been good. We needed one win to get the belief and confidence back and we have done that. It’s very important.”
Llorente’s goal set the Swans on their way, although they had to survive a major scare before sealing a first win since the 3-2 triumph over Burnley at the beginning of March.
Mark Arnautovic blazed a 69th-minute penalty over the top of Lukasz Fabianski’s goal, and just 60 seconds later Tom Carroll’s long-range effort deflected off Joe Allen and sailed into the net.
But they held firm for the vital victory and head coach Paul Clement believes the result could prove a turning point in their battle to avoid the drop.
“I felt a more positive, vibrant dressing room,” said Clement.
“Everyone knows that they put in a good shift physically, and played well tactically and technically. Hopefully it gives us that impetus to go on and finish really strongly.
“Yes, we are two points behind Hull and they are in the driving seat. But we’re right behind them, breathing down their necks, and we’ll do that to the very last game.”
Clement had called the contest a “must-win game” before kick-off as he predicted that Hull would beat Watford at home which the Tigers duly did.
“It’s the first time I’ve called it as a must-win game,” Clement said. “If the gap had gone to five points with four games left I think it would have been very difficult for us. Although the points difference hasn’t changed, what has changed is we’ve put that poor run of form behind us.
Today’s changed it. That’s important psychologically going into the next four games, the next is a big test at Man United.”
Stoke manager Mark Hughes bemoaned Arnautovic’s missed second-half penalty as the turning point.
Arnautovic sent his 69th-minute spot-kick, awarded for Federico Fernandez shoving over Xherdan Shaqiri, high over the crossbar moments before Carroll’s deflected drive gave Swansea a vital second-half cushion. “The second half we were the more dominant side, but obviously the match-defining moment was the penalty,” Hughes said.
Llorente has had some fitness issues in recent weeks, and was withdrawn after only 59 minutes.
The 32-year-old admitted he is still getting back up to full speed after a two-game lay-off.
“I am a little bit tired,” he said. “I need to work more because I have lost a little bit of the fitness I had before the injury. I will just keep working every day – this is the only way to do it.”