Swans fail to fly that little bit safer while Middlesbrough remain rooted in the bottom three
Swansea: Middlesbrough wasted a chance to boost their survival bid as the Premier League strugglers were held to a 0-0 draw by relegation rivals Swansea on Sunday.
Steve Agnew’s side would have moved within two points of safety with a victory at the Liberty Stadium.
But instead second-bottom Middlesbrough remain five points adrift of 17th placed Swansea after a nervous, error-strewn encounter.
Middlesbrough, without a win in 12 league games, are four points behind third-bottom Hull, although they have a game in hand on both sides in the battle to avoid dropping into the Championship.
It was also a missed opportunity for Swansea, who could have pulled clear of the bottom three but instead remain deep in trouble themselves, just one point above Hull following their third successive game without a win.
Middlesbrough had to withstand early Swansea pressure, which saw Martin Olsson fire over and Jordan Ayew sting Victor Valdes’ palms from 20 yards.
Swansea midfielder Tom Carroll went close to breaking the deadlock with a 25-yard drive that whistled past a post.
Iceland midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson produced a sublime touch to find a yard of space and unleash a 25-yard pile-driver which Valdes stretched to push away.
At the other end, Adama Traore dragged a shot wide before outpacing Alfie Mawson and picking out Adam Clayton at the far post.
Clayton did well to hold off Mawson but he was off balance when he took a shot which ended wide of Lukasz Fabianski’s goal.
Sigurdsson’s late free-kick was deflected wide, with the hosts believing a penalty might have been awarded after the ball had struck an arm.
In a frantic finish, Mawson’s goal-bound header was cleared by Marten de Roon.
Middlesbrough’s Rudy Gestede wasted an even better chance in the last seconds when he sent his far post header wide.
Gestede has now gone 39 Premier League games without a win — his last Bournemouth, August 2015); extending the competition record for the longest winless run by a player.
Only West Brom, with eight, have registered one or fewer shots on target in more different Premier League games this season than Middlesbrough, who have six.
Middlesbrough caretaker manager Agnew said: “You could see that the fight is there. The spirit is terrific.
“Swansea have been in the Premier League for seven years, and this is our first season. It was difficult for us to sustain attacks but we kept going right to the end.
“You’d expect Rudy Gestede to score at the end but when the next chance comes I’m sure he will.
“It’s another point and we will regroup.”
Swansea manager Clement said: “Any point you get is valuable but we are disappointed not to win the game.
“They had a big chance at the end but they didn’t have an attempt on target in the whole game so a defeat would have been harsh.
“You never know how valuable that point could be. It is tight at the bottom, there are eight games to go and we remain very positive.”
Fact Box
Premier League table after Saturday’s early match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):
Chelsea 29 22 3 4 60 23 69
Tottenham 29 18 8 3 57 21 62
Liverpool 30 17 8 5 64 37 59
Man City 28 17 6 5 54 30 57
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Man Utd 28 14 11 3 42 23 53
Arsenal 27 15 5 7 56 34 50
Everton 30 14 8 8 52 33 50
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West Brom 30 12 8 10 39 38 44
Stoke 30 9 9 12 33 44 36
Southampton 28 9 7 12 33 36 34
Bournemouth 30 9 7 14 42 54 34
Watford 29 9 7 13 34 48 34
Leicester 29 9 6 14 35 47 33
West Ham 30 9 6 15 41 54 33
Burnley 30 9 5 16 31 44 32
Crystal Palace 29 9 4 16 38 47 31
Swansea 30 8 4 18 36 63 28
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Hull 30 7 6 17 28 59 27
Middlesbrough 29 4 11 14 20 33 23
Sunderland 29 5 5 19 24 51 20
Note: Top four qualify for Champions League; teams finishing fifth to seventh qualify for Europa League; bottom three relegated to Championship
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