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Paul Clement says Swansea's owners are 'very supportive'

BURNLEY, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 18: Paul Clement, Manager of Swansea City looks on prior to the Premier League match between Burnley and Swansea City at Turf M
Image: Paul Clement's Swansea side are second from bottom in the Premier League

Paul Clement says Swansea's owners remain supportive of his work at the Liberty Stadium, as the club battle to avoid relegation.

Clement was appointed manager of the Swans in January of this year, following the sacking of Bob Bradley.

And although he steered them to safety over the closing months of last season, the club find themselves back in the relegation zone after 12 matches of the new campaign.

Swansea entertain Bournemouth on Saturday and, speaking at Thursday's pre-match press conference, Clement said: "The owners are very supportive of my position here.

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Burnley 2-0 Swansea

"The chairman (Huw Jenkins) is not happy with the performances, neither am I and nor are the players.

"I see and meet the chairman every day. He's present at the training ground and we sit and discuss all different matters on a daily basis.

"And I have regular conversations with our majority owners Steven (Kaplan) and Jason (Levien). And all communication remains open and positive.

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"I've never had any sort of discussion about 'If you don't do this or this, it's going to be the end.'

"I've had nothing like that at all. In fact, it's been the opposite - they're behind me and together we'll get through this."

Burnley's Ashley Barnes scores his side's second goal against Swansea
Image: Burnley's Ashley Barnes scores his side's second goal against Swansea

Clement says the only way for 19th-placed Swansea to move clear of the relegation zone is to improve their performances.

He added: "I'm disappointed with the way we've been performing, so our focus is to get better and improve.

"Morale's OK. We know we're not doing well. It's not like it was towards the end of last season when we picked up some valuable wins and steered ourselves to safety.

"We're sad we're not performing as well as we can and because of our position in the league.

"But we have belief and determined to turn it around.

"We must focus on improving our performances, regardless of whether we get the win this Saturday - because football is random at times.

"What we have to do is improve our levels which haven't been good enough."

Clement says Tammy Abraham remains doubtful for Saturday's match against Eddie Howe's side.

Swansea City's Tammy Abraham is stretchered off following a challenge by Burnley's Charlie Taylor
Image: Swansea City's Tammy Abraham is doubtful for this weekend

The England international picked up a knock last week and is rated "50-50" for Bournemouth but Clement says they have a ready-made replacement in the shape of Wilfried Bony, who returned to action at Burnley after seven weeks on the sidelines.

"He (Tammy) hasn't trained yet. We'll have to see how he responds to the treatment he's had today and see if he trains tomorrow," Clement said.

"But he's a doubt. I would say 50-50 at this point. There's only one training session left.

"Wilfried Bony's coming back. He played 45 minutes last week, is motivated and ready to start a game.

"He's hungry to perform and that's why you need more than one striker. So if Tammy's not available we've got Wilfried."

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