Swansea City once again left a home game without any points to show as Southampton forward Shane Long scored the winning goal in the 69th minute to secure a 1-0 victory at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday. 

The Saints ended Swansea's four game unbeaten streak. Their good streak started on January 18th against Watford with a 1-0 victory at home. Since then, Swansea went on to win two and draw two, having gone five games unbeaten earlier in the season. 

Swans left frustrated again after wasteful finishing

However, this game had something in common with their most recent draws. Missed chances cost them the three points against Crystal Palace, West Bromwich Albion and now against the Saints.

In their stalemates with the Eagles and Albion, the Swans had a lead in the game, but in both of the matches they wasted multiple chances and failed to put the game away. In this result, the other club came back and stole the three points from the South Wales outfit.

Including this game and the previous four the Swans created 66 chances, a pretty good tally, as well as also managing to earn 25 corners in the process. However, they only placed 16 shots on target, and only scored five goals throughout the duration. 

This game was no different the home club created 13 shots in front of the 20,890 fans in the stands. The Swans also produced five corners in the match. However, only two shots were placed on target and Southampton's goalkeeper Fraser Froster stopped them both. 

Few clear chances for below-par home side

Swansea's efforts were summed up by the opportunity blown by Gylfi Sigurdsson late in the first half. The Jacks midfielder was set up perfectly by Alberto Paloschi flick-on header as the Italian striker received a high cross into the box and soared in the air to head the ball to a running Sigurdsson.

Sigurdsson had Swansea's best chance of the game. (Picture: Getty Images)
Sigurdsson had Swansea's best chance of the game. (Picture: Getty Images)

The ball bounced right in his direction at the left-hand side of the penalty box, with Icelandic international open and in space, but he blasted the ball high over the crossbar having had the chance to put his team 1-0 up at half-time Instead the score remain scoreless and after that the Swans failed to produce another dangerous chance in the game. 

Then, in the second half Long buried the Swans with a close-range header in the 69th minute to give the away side a 1-0 lead. The hosts attempted to fight back, but the closest they came was when referee Jonathan Moss failed to award a penalty late in the match. 

With this result, the Swans are stuck in 16th place with 27 points and a negative nine goal difference and they are now only three points away from the relegation zone.

However, if they win their next game, they will surpass 15th-placed AFC Bournemouth who currently have 28 points, provided other results go their way. Their next game will be on February 28th when they take a trip to London and face Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.

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About the author
Jorge Belon
My name is Jorge Belon. I’m a writer for VAVEL USA and VAVEL UK. My focus is on soccer. Throughout the years I have created different blogs all revolving around soccer. My first was Mr. JB Soccer in 2012. Now I currently operate Belon Soccer News (BSN), where I cover soccer mostly from North America and international tournaments. I am a college at Los Angeles Valley College. I was a part of the college newspaper, The Valley Star for two years. At the Star I held the position of Sports Editor, News Editor, Managing Editor and Editor in Chief. I have been writing about soccer for the past three years. I have covered: Major League Soccer, Gold Cup, Under-20 Men’s World Cup, Women’s World Cup, Men’s World Cup and many more.