Swansea beat Everton to climb out of drop zone
Swansea moved out of the Premier League relegation zone as Fernando Llorente's first-half header gave them a 1-0 victory over Everton.
Llorente's 13th goal of the season saw Swansea leapfrog Hull into 17th place, the Tigers punished for their earlier home defeat to already relegated Sunderland.
Swansea are now one point above Hull and firmly in charge of their own destiny with two games of the season remaining.
"A vital victory for Swansea lifts them out of the bottom three in the #PL for the first time since early April #SWAEVE" - @premierleague
A vital victory for Swansea lifts them out of the bottom three in the #PL for the first time since early April #SWAEVE pic.twitter.com/OduUErGT6b
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 6, 2017
Jordan Ayew. For the second season running Swansea have found an Ayew central to their survival cause. Last season it was Andre, who moved on to West Ham. This season, the younger Jordan has come in from Aston Villa and his work-rate was pivotal to this priceless victory, not to mention the pin-point cross which set up Llorente for the winner.
Llorente's headed goal will be the moment replayed time and time again if Swansea escape the drop. But the sight of the Spaniard deep in his own penalty area and winning the ball in the final minutes summed up the nature of this victory. It was only a few weeks ago that Llorente was criticised for his work ethic, but the 32-year-old put in a huge defensive shift here.
Jeering former players is often the done thing in football these days. But Swansea fans booing Ashley Williams - someone who played over 350 games in leading the club up the football pyramid and skippered Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 - surely ranks as the most crass jeering of an old favourite this season.
Lukasz Fabianski 7 (out of 10)
Kyle Naughton 7
Federico Fernandez 8
Alfie Mawson 8
Martin Olsson 8
Leon Britton 8
Tom Carroll 7
Ki Sung-yueng 7
Gylfi Sigurdsson 7
Jordan Ayew 9
Fernando Llorente 8
Substitutes
Jack Cork (for Britton, 73mins) 6
Leroy Fer (for Ki, 75mins) 7
Borja Baston (for Llorente, 87mins) 6
Maarten Stekelenburg 6
Mason Holgate 7
Phil Jagielka 6
Ashley Williams 6
Leighton Baines 6
Idrissa Gueye 7
Gareth Barry 5
Tom Davies 6
Kevin Mirallas 7
Dominic Calvert-Lewin 5
Romelu Lukaku 6
Substitutes
Ross Barkley (for Calvert-Lewin, 46mins) 6
Enner Valencia (for Barry, 65mins) 6
Jonjoe Kenny (for Holgate, 78mins) 6
Everton v Watford (Premier League, May 12)
Sunderland v Swansea (Premier League, May 13)
