Today's media round-up

Today's media round-up includes interviews with Michael Laudrup and Neil Taylor.
Laudrup has been talking about the club's lofty league position despite the winless streak stretching to six following the defeat to Chelsea, while Neil Taylor looks ahead to Saturday's home clash with Manchester City.

South Wales Evening Post
Poor run shows just how well we've done, says Laudrup

Michael Laudrup admits it is "incredible" that Swansea City remain ninth in the Premier League - but says their position is proof that they have overachieved this season.

Swansea are without a win in six league games after goals from Oscar and Frank Lampard condemned them to defeat at Chelsea yesterday.

Poor run shows just how well we've done

This is Swansea's longest sequence without a victory since they were promoted to the top flight nearly two years ago - yet they remain in the top half of the table.

And Laudrup, who feels a top-ten finish would be a fitting end to his first season in this country, reckons the recent dip in results has only served to highlight how well his team did in the first two-thirds of the campaign.

"We have gone over a month and a half without winning and we are still ninth in the table - that's incredible," said the Swansea manager.

"But I think that just shows you how we overachieved before this run.

"It depends how you look at things, but to have 40 points so early on (after victory over Newcastle on March 2) as well as the cup - nobody would have expected that.

"The fixtures since then have not been an easy. We have played Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea and we still have the two Manchesters to go.

"But I really can't say we have been poor since the cup final - not in any one of our games.

"We have been poor in moments, like the crazy five minutes before half-time against Chelsea, but once again I can't say that we played poorly overall.

"It's always important to try to end a season well because it is good for confidence, but I can't say our performances have not been good."


Wales Online
Taylor looks ahead to City visit

Swansea claimed one of their best Premier League scalps when they beat Manchester City 1-0 at the Liberty Stadium last season, Luke Moore grabbing the late winner.

Two months later Roberto Mancini's men were crowned champions and, though they will head to South Wales on Saturday having relinquished their crown to neighbours United, they are in good form and determined to secure second place.

''We can take a lot of inspiration from last season because it was such a great win,'' said Swans defender Neil Taylor, who made his comeback against Chelsea yesterday.

''At the Liberty, we fancy ourselves against anybody so that's the key.

''We'll have the crowd behind us and we want to put on a performance. It's been a few weeks since we've got a result, so we need it.

''We want to pit our wits against the best and keep passing landmarks like we did with our win over City last season.''