Swansea carry on from Euro win with Palace joy

Swansea carried on from where they left off in Europe with a 2-0 Premier League win away to strugglers Crystal Palace on Sunday. Fresh from their Europa League win against Valencia in Spain, Swansea were in dominant form at Selhurst Park and could have scored more than two goals against south London side Palace who, on this evidence, face a season-long battle to avoid relegation from English football's top-flight. It took Swansea just 80 seconds to take the lead through Michu and the surprise was they then had to wait until the 48th minute for Nathan Dyer to make it 2-0. Showing the class that was a hallmark of the Welsh club's play throughout the match, Michu gave Swansea an early lead by finishing off a move he started when, after receiving a pass from Jonjo Shelvey via a slight deflection from former Palace favourite Wayne Routledge, he shot through the legs of goalkeeper Julian Speroni. Swansea should have been 2-0 up inside four minutes but Michu's shot came back off the post as Palace both struggled to defend and create significant chances of their own. Michu again went close when his powerful strike just went over the bar following a deflection by Danny Gabbidon. The Spaniard then headed over from the resulting corner, with a Swansea side managed by Danish great Michael Laudrup in complete control. Swansea keeper Michel Vorm eventually had a save to make in the 37th minute when he dealt comfortably with Adlene Guedioura's long-range effort. Palace were without injured centre-back Damien Delaney for the second half and, with no defenders on his bench, home manager Ian Holloway had to field midfielder Jose Campana in his place. Swansea scored against this makeshift defence when, after Alvaro Vazquez's initial effort had been saved by Speroni, he pulled the ball back for Dyer who made no mistake with a powerful shot. Vazquez should have made it 3-0 but failed to crown a neat team move with the goal it deserved when he shot over the top. From : AFP