The Swans head to Crystal Palace this evening knowing that defeat will leave them a massive seven points from the safety zone in the Premier League and facing an uphill task that I am not sure we could come out of.

It is a tough enough ask at the moment for a side that took just 12 points in the first half of the season to effectively at least double their performance levels in the second half but to do it from a place so far away would seem all but impossible even with 18 games left to play.

Therefore the game becomes one that we probably have to win but we definitely cannot afford to lose especially when you consider that Arsenal and Liverpool are our next two Premier League opponents.

It was just over five weeks ago that the two sides last met in a nine goal thriller at the Liberty Stadium and whilst it may not do much for the heart rate every Swans fan would take a similar result tonight especially with the side likely to be under the watch of the soon to be manager Paul Clement.

Media reports last night suggested that the Bayern Munich Number 2 will soon become Swansea's number 1 and will be likely to watch the match tonight although unlikely to have much input into the team selection or tactics. His real work will start tomorrow and he must be hoping today that the side he will inherit will give him something to fight for on the pitch.

Crystal Palace will have Damien Delaney available again after he missed the loss to Arsenal due to suspension.

Wilfried Zaha has been given special dispensation to play before going to the Africa Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast.

For the Swans Wayne Routledge will be checked after he missed the defeat to Bournemouth due to a mouth abscess.

Fernando Llorente is also a doubt after picking up a knock, but Jefferson Montero is definitely absent.

Optimism is not high the fans camp after four successive defeats which have seen us ship thirteen goals in the process and our Twitter poll ahead of the game produced the following results - 67% predicting a home win

Whatever happens tonight for ninety minutes we have to be behind the team and hope that we can produce only a second away win of the season. Where there is hope...

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Swansea City Polls