"Outstanding" Grimes praised by Potter

Graham Potter praised Matt Grimes’ “outstanding” display against Aston Villa after the midfielder impressed in Swansea City’s frustrating 1-0 Boxing Day defeat.

The former Exeter man has been a regular starter in the Swans midfield over recent weeks and has shown strong form during that sequence.

He was again prominent against Villa, with visiting manager Dean Smith admitting post-match that Grimes’ influence had led him to make a tactical switch to try and limit the Swansea man’s input.

And while back-to-back defeats are certainly not the way Potter and his squad wanted to celebrate Christmas, he had praise for the performance of his midfield lynchpin.

“I thought he was outstanding, he had such personality on the pitch,” said Potter of the 23-year-old.

“He had real quality as well and was really good. There were some real positives out there in terms of the individual performances.

“He is one who has just grown and grown and grown, he takes great responsibility and has great understanding and great character.

“It was disappointing for him to be on the losing team.”