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Gary Neville explains the simplicity behind Swansea's success

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Neville praises Clement’s Swans

On New Year's Day, Swansea were rock bottom of the Premier League, four points adrift of safety.

Since January 2 they have won four of their six games and are currently third in the form table, behind only Manchester United and Everton.

So how has Paul Clement turned things around?

According to Gary Neville, analysing Swansea on Monday Night Football, the secret to their spectacular turnaround in form has been a focus on the simple things.

"A month ago I thought they were done, along with Hull. I didn't think they had enough in any capacity at all," he said.

"Paul Clement has talked in all his interviews about organisation and hard work. The game against Leicester wasn't brilliant in quality, but you just need to look at the basic fundamentals, the really simple things.

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Watch highlights of Swansea 2-0 Leicester

"There's no fancy formations. It's centre-backs dropping off and not leaving the full-back as the last man on the ball, it's getting into decent shape across the pitch with a good spread between players and all being available.

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"It's simple, simple things that most good teams will do."

Swansea's highest distances

Match Distance covered (km) Manager
Liverpool 2-3 Swansea 120.6 Clement
Swansea 0-4 Arsenal 117.6 Clement
Man City 2-1 Swansea 117.3 Clement
Swansea 1-3 Man Utd 116.2 Bradley
Swansea 2-0 Leicester 114.6 Clement
Swansea 1-2 Liverpool 114.4 Guidolin
Swansea 2-1 Soton 114.2 Clement

Neville highlighted the seven games this season in which Swansea have run the furthest - and five of those matches have come under Clement in 2017.

And the Sky Sports expert says that's another reason why results have improved.

"They are running further, they are more organised, they've got more belief and they've got more confidence," Neville added.

"That is the very simple fundamentals of the game. When you're down at the bottom there's no point talking about fancy ways of playing. You really do just want to put the foundations in when you go in as a coach at a club.

"He's done that brilliantly."

Watch Gary Neville's analysis for yourself by signing in with your Sky iD and watching the video at the top of the page.

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