Things are looking bleak for Swansea, in the past few days they have made an unwanted stride towards relegation to the EFL Championship while also announcing that current manager Carlos Carvalhal will be moving on at the end of this campaign.
They go into this weekend’s clash with Stoke needing something of a minor miracle if they are to avoid the drop. For the South Wales outfit to complete the great escape and stave off the threat of relegation they will need to complete a nine goal swing over Southampton.
Quite simply there are going to have to be some remarkable results on the final day of the season, for example Swansea will have to beat Stoke 5-0 while Southampton will have to lose to Manchester City be the same score.
In fairness the latter of that combination is not outside the realms of possibility, especially after City have been so ruthless in front of goal this season. At the same time though, considering Swansea are the division’s lowest scorers this presents a very tall order indeed.
In football and certainly in the Premier League, nothing is over until it’s over but even the most ardent Swansea City fan will have already resigned themselves to life in the second tier next season, misery that will have been further compounded after arch rivals Cardiff won promotion last week.
If there is even the smallest hint of belief for Swansea City, then for their opponents Stoke City all hopes of beating the drop were extinguished last weekend after their 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace at the Bet365 Stadium.
Paul Lambert’s men suffered the ignominy of being the first club to be relegated from the Premier League this season and to be honest it is not something that is undeserved. They say the table does not lie and the fact that they have not won any of their last 13 league matches speaks volumes.
Where teams around them have changed managers and seen a vast improvement - something that ultimately has been the difference between staying up and going down, unfortunately this is one fire that Paul Lambert has not been able to extinguish.
Many will look to the quality of the squad as the main reason as to why they were relegated this season, but at the same time it is also a damming indictment that some of their key players have been in the press recently bemoaning the club’s transfer policy.
The question now is just which of those players will still be at Stoke City next season, players such as Jack Butland will still be able to command a relatively decent transfer fee, but apart from that there is little quality that other clubs would look to purchase in the imminent fire sale that follows after relegation.
For Stoke City they have nothing to lose in this game and the hope will be for Swansea Cityfans that they rollover and let the hosts do their part of the bargain as far as the final push for survival. Unfortunately for them even in victory it will not be enough to keep them as both teams will be relegated come full time.