Joe Allen has declared Swansea City as contenders for a place in the Premier League

The Swansea City midfielder believes that the Swans can retain their lofty Championship position for the remainder of the season and then be part of the end of season shake up that has often been declared "the richest prize in football"

Few in the media have mentioned the Swans as potential Premier League contenders but with the season in it's second stage and Paulo Sousa's side currently the fourth best side in the division, slowly people are beginning to realise that the dream could happen.

And Allen is one of those who believes that it can.  "We can't see any reason why we won't be in the position we are now come the end of the season," Allen told the Evening Post

 "And if we do finish in the play-offs, there is no reason why we can't reach the bright lights of the Premier League

"We didn't have the ideal start to the season, but we knew we had plenty of games to turn it around. We were confident we would and now we are in the second half of the season we can be very happy with what we have achieved so far.

"Even though there are some that respect us a little more than others, people don't expect us to be up there.

"At the start there were people expecting us to struggle, but we have turned it around and proved them wrong.

"People need to realise how good the players at this club are."

And maybe a result against Middlesbrough at the Riverside on Saturday will make more people sit up and take notice with Allen again in confident mood ahead of the game and looking to avenge the 3-0 defeat the Swans suffered at the Liberty earlier this season

"Not many teams have come to the Liberty and beaten us 3-0 and this will be one of the toughest games we will face away from home all season.

"We said before the Leicester game that we owed them one, and now we go to Boro looking to put things right against them.

"Hopefully the confidence we gained against Leicester will help us up there.

 doesn't seem to be going too well for them at home and maybe there is a lot of pressure on them," Allen added. "An early goal would be the ideal scenario for us because hopefully, with our style of play, we could frustrate their fans and their team.

"Our main strength when we go a goal up is that we make it difficult for teams to get the ball back off us and break us down.

"We can expect a few more 1-0 wins, which we will certainly take."

Photo: Action Images

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