Carvalhal sends positive message as Swans prepares for crunch week

Carlos Carvalhal has urged his Swansea players to show a reaction in their vital Premier League clash with Southampton.

The Swans’ poorly-timed slump continued on Saturday when they went a seventh league game in a row without win – going down 1-0 at Bournemouth – with results elsewhere seeing them slip back into the bottom three.

They can still save themselves by winning their final two home games, against Southampton and then Stoke, but defeat against the Saints would mean they can only stay up on goal difference.

The mood in the camp was low after the Vitality Stadium defeat, but the Portuguese wants his side to come out firing.

“After a game that we lose, everyone is sad of course,” he said.

“But tomorrow is another day and we will react and Tuesday, we must be at the top.

“This is the main point. And they know about that. They know they must react very fast.

Swansea can tale solace from their impressive home form where they have only been beaten by Tottenham and Chelsea in the league since Carvalhal came in at the end of 2017, with Spurs also winning in the FA Cup.

“Since we arrive, all the games we play at home, we perform really well,” he added.

“All of them. Possibly the cup game against Tottenham was the game that was hard for us. All the others, we dominated and were better than our opponents.

“Even Chelsea, if you saw the game you can see we dominated the game and we could achieve much more.

“I don’t have any reason to doubt we can do it on Tuesday.

“My players will give the maximum, the fans will give the maximum, and when we play in Liberty, usually, we are a strong team, and it is our (plan) to be a strong team on Tuesday.”

Kyle Naughton could return to the squad after a stomach bug kept him out of the Bournemouth game, while Sam Clucas is in contention for a starting place after nursing a knock.