Swansea City face a battle to remain in the Premier League but their season could be defined by the start of next year.
Bob Bradley has struggled to get his team firing in his opening games as Swansea City boss and he now has a tougher task of closing the gap on the teams in the safety zone.
The Swans haven’t been helped by a very tough run of fixtures of late but the fixture list will start to look a little kinder towards the end of the year.
It’s something to look forward to for everyone involved at Swansea City after a tough run, but depending on how Bradley’s men do in December, the Swans’ season could well be all-but over by new year’s day.
Manchester United’s Paul Pogba in action with Swansea City’s Angel Rangel
Swansea play Sunderland, West Brom, Middlesbrough and Bournemouth by the close of the year and a poor points return from those games could leave them cast adrift.
Of course, there are exceptions – Leicester City defied the impossible two years ago by coming back from the brink to survive but more often than not, the bottom two at the turn of the year, finds themselves playing Championship football the following year.
Swansea supporters have been left bitterly disappointed by the manner in which their team have fallen apart against ‘big clubs’ in recent weeks and it’s clear they have to improve…quickly.
Manchester United’s Paul Pogba celebrates scoring their first goal with team mates as Swansea City’s Angel Rangel looks dejected
When they take on four of the bottom seven in December, there will be no excuses and the results taken from those games will give us a clear-cut definition of whether Swansea can continue their survival battle into the new year, or whether they will be best suited keeping one eye on preparing for Championship football.
The belief is down at the Liberty Stadium currently with Bob Bradley’s men sitting six points from safety but there’s plenty of time left for that to be put right.
However, that optimistic view may not be applicable after those four season-defining games have been played and we enter 2017.
Bob Bradley must make it his absolute priority to take as many points as possible from those games in order to give his team the best chance of preserving Swansea City’s stay in the Premier League.
Swansea City manager Bob Bradley
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