Swansea deserved to beat Palace – Guidolin

Francesco Guidolin feels Swansea City produced their best performance since he took over and deserved to beat Crystal Palace after drawing 1-1 at home on Saturday.

Gylfi Sigurdsson opened the scoring with a free-kick for the hosts in the 13th minute of the Premier League match at Liberty Stadium, where Scott Dann levelled for the visitors from a corner two minutes into the second half.

Swansea, with a victory and a draw from Guidolin’s first two matches in charge, pushed for a winner and saw Sigurdsson draw a good save out of Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey from another set-piece in the 87th minute.

The result leaves the Welsh club 16th, unbeaten in four matches but still only four points clear of the relegation zone.

Nevertheless, former Udinese coach Guidolin saw enough to leave him full of optimism going into the final months of the campaign.

“I think my team played very well, very well,” he said.

“We had many situations [to] score. We controlled the game. We controlled the ball for many minutes. [It was] not easy because the weather [was] not good for a team that wants to play the ball on the floor. But I saw my team play with confidence and quality.

“It’s not a good result for us. Crystal Palace is a good team. They play well. But my opinion is Swansea were better.”

The Swans defeated Everton 2-1 away from home in Guidolin’s first match in charge, before conceding late to draw 1-1 at West Brom on Tuesday.

And while beating Roberto Martinez’s men at Goodison Park is no small achievement, the Italian felt the performance against Palace was superior.

“My opinion is this is the best match, I saw my team play with enthusiasm, confidence, fitness,” he said.

“I am positive, I am optimistic.”

The next opportunity for Swansea to climb away from the relegation zone will come at home to Southampton on Saturday.