Luke Williams | We want to finish strongly and give ourselves a platform

Head coach Luke Williams believes Swansea City can finish the season strongly and give the club a platform to build on.

The Swans take on Sunderland at the Stadium of Light this afternoon following a challenging run of fixtures which has seen them meet the top-four sides in the Championship.

The Black Cats – who have interim boss Mike Dodds in charge following the midweek departure of Michael Beale - are themselves in the promotion hunt, while the visitors are looking to bounce back after home defeats to high-flying Leeds United and Ipswich Town.

Swansea, however, were victorious in their last away game against Hull - another side in play-off contention – and that is a performance and result Williams is keen to build on over the final 13 games of the campaign.

“We want to finish as strong as we can, you cannot cross your fingers and hope you become a good team,” he said.

“You have to keep pushing and see where that takes us, we could go into the summer with a really good feeling and a clear idea of what we want to do moving forward.

“We know we had a tough run of games, the players have tried to be brave against top sides who are incredible. But I am optimistic, and I believe we will finish really strongly and give ourselves a good base for next season.

“I am confident in that, I think I should be. I look at everything from our recent performances, I can see some really interesting trends in the performances that suggest we should be confident.

“We know Sunderland are a really good side and they will be in the shake-up.

“It’s hard to know a few things in terms of setup and positions of players because there may be new ideas. But we know the squad they have, we know what the players can do and the key threats they have.

“We need to improve our own performances in those small margins, and then we have a great chance of being successful.”