Swansea City 0 Bournemouth 0: Clement´s men end losing streak but remain in bottom three

Swansea City ended a run of four consecutive Premier League defeats with an uninspiring 0-0 draw against Bournemouth at the Liberty Stadium.

The result is unlikely to ease the pressure on manager on Paul Clement, whose side now face daunting trips to Chelsea and Stoke City in the next week. 

The under-fire manager will be left to rue Wilfried Bony’s disallowed goal on the stroke of half-time, but neither side did enough to win a game desperately lacking in quality.

Ivory Coast international Bony whipped a wonderful effort in off the underside of the crossbar, but his celebrations were cut short by referee Stuart Attwell, who deemed Jordan Ayew’s challenge on Nathan Ake in the build-up to be too aggressive. 

Leroy Fer squandered a glorious opportunity to win it with seven minutes remaining when he inexplicably hooked wide after his initial shot had been saved. 

It ends goalless at the Liberty. Frustrating.#SWABOU pic.twitter.com/PAEZPf9g63

— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) November 25, 2017

Swansea’s recent woes were not evident in the early stages and they came close to taking the lead inside three minutes as Ayew’s cross from an acute angle crashed off the outside of the post.

Bournemouth lacked attacking intent in the opening half hour and had only a long-range effort from Andrew Surman, which was comfortably held by Lukasz Fabianski, to show for their endeavours.

Chances were at a premium throughout the opening period, but the hosts did carve out two in the space of 60 seconds 10 minutes before the break.

First, Martin Olsson skewed a volley over the crossbar after Tom Carroll had clipped a clever ball over the Cherries’ defence and then Renato Sanches drilled into the side netting from just inside the area.

Joshua King fired straight at Fabianksi after being found in the area by Marc Pugh moments before Bony’s superb strike was controversially ruled out.

We’ve made a positive start to this half. Now let’s make it count!#SWABOU  0-0  (55’) pic.twitter.com/EcoHXwyP9F

— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) November 25, 2017

Adam Smith fired wide shortly after the break as Bournemouth suggested they would adopt a more expansive approach in the second period. 

That hope was short-lived, though, as the game settled back into its first-half pattern of stodgy midfield scrapping. 

The players’ frustrations boiled over with 15 minutes remaining as Ki Sung-yueng and Jordon Ibe exchanged pushes, with both receiving yellow cards. 

Substitute Fer then had the chance to claim a priceless three points late on. The Netherlands international burst through the Bournemouth backline and after his first attempt was kept out by Begovic he clipped the rebound wide with the Bosnian goalkeeper stranded.