Swansea City 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 1: Glenn Murray piles on the pressure with second-half winner

Glenn Murray - Swansea City 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 1: Glenn Murray piles on the pressure with second-half winner
Glenn Murray scored the only goal of the game as Brighton beat Swansea City Credit: Getty Images 

Swansea's shocking home form continued as Glenn Murray's first-half strike gave Brighton victory in front of an angry Liberty Stadium crowd.

Murray applied the finish to Anthony Knockaert's cross for the only goal of the game as the hosts were booed off. Paul Clement's men were already low on confidence going into the game and their morale only sank lower as the 90 minutes wore on in South Wales.

Brighton didn't have to do much to win the game and Swansea – who are now in the bottom three – look set to face a long battle with relegation based on their current form.

Clement said: “If we play at that level we can't expect to win the game. The way we defended for the goal was very, very poor. After that you see a team that is really struggling with confidence.”

He added: “The boos affected the team and some individuals, but our job is to deal with that. We’re in a bad moment, there is no doubt about that. We need to stop this vicious cycle of a poor performance and then a bad result. The players in this group have been in this situation before and we have belief we can get out of it.”

Paul Clement - Swansea City 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 1: Glenn Murray piles on the pressure with second-half winner
Paul Clement and Swansea remain third from bottom in the Premier League table Credit: REUTERS

A small section of Swansea fans had protested against chairman Huw Jenkins before kick-off and their team's brittle confidence became more than evident as the first half wore on. 

A series of misplaced passes saw boos ring out from a home crowd frustrated with their side's campaign to date. And the mood inside the ground soured further when Brighton went ahead. Federico Fernandez gave Murray too much room and he bundled Knockaert's delivery past Lukasz Fabianski. The goal drained the life out of Swansea. Murray went close again and only a superb save from Fabianski stopped Lewis Dunk from making it 2-0.

Clement introduced winger Luciano Narsingh, but the substitution failed to make any difference and the brutal truth is that Swansea misplaced too many passes and lacked the cutting edge required to take anything from the game. Their set-piece delivery was also woeful, with Ki-Sung-yueng and Sam Clucas wayward from dead-ball situations.

Tammy Abraham - Swansea City 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 1: Glenn Murray piles on the pressure with second-half winner
Tammy Abraham failed to score despite his best efforts at the Liberty Stadium Credit: REUTERS

Abraham was the only bright note for the hosts, but a comeback never looked like happening.

Clucas was replaced and booted a bottle on the Swansea bench, summing up his side's frustration. Narsingh struck the cross bar when through on goal in what was the best chance, but by the time Mike Dean blew for the end of the game, the catcalls from the home crowd were entirely predictable.

Brighton moved up to eighth with this win and their boss Hughton said: “We had to defend well and overall it was a really good away performance. For us to be where we are at this moment surpasses our expectations, but we have to be guarded against any side of complacency.”   

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