Steve Cooper | Competition is a good thing, and we've got that

Steve Cooper feels Swansea City’s strong run of form is bring driven by an intense competition for places that has only increased with a trio of January signings.

The Swans head into Wednesday’s clash with Brentford on a seven-match unbeaten run, and having gone 10 games without defeat at the Liberty.

Cooper has also added to his squad this month with goalkeeper Ben Hamer, midfielder Conor Hourihane and forward Jordan Morris all joining the Swans.

And the head coach believes adding players of such experience and quality is only going to intensify the fight for regular starting roles, and continue to drive standards among the group.

“I think any of the boys not in the starting line-up or not in the squad, they are always fighting,” said Cooper.

“It’s the same for the boys in the team and the squad, they are fighting to stay in there.

“It’s not just in the forward positions, where we have signed Jordan, we have a number of good players that, if they are not starting in one game, are more than capable of starting and being involved in the next one.

"You just look at the weekend with Wayne Routledge and Liam Cullen played, and we also have Andre (Ayew) and Jamal (Lowe) in addition to Jordan.

“We have options, and I think that is healthy, especially with this schedule as you are probably going to need more than the normal-sized core of players.

“The more strength in depth we can have the better, competition for places is a good thing and we feel we have that in a number of positions.”