EPL: Swansea City v Southampton preview

Swansea City v Southampton preview

Carlos Carvalhal has urged his Swansea City players to show a reaction in their vital Premier League clash with Southampton on Tuesday night.

The Swans' poorly timed slump continued on Saturday when they went a seventh league game in a row without win - going down 1-0 at Bournemouth - with results elsewhere seeing them slip back into the bottom three.

They can still save themselves by winning their final two home games, against Southampton and then Stoke, but defeat against the Saints would mean they can only stay up on goal difference. The mood in the camp was low after the Vitality Stadium defeat, but the Portuguese wants his side to come out firing.

"After a game that we lose, everyone is sad of course," he said. "But tomorrow is another day and we will react and Tuesday, we must be at the top. "This is the main point. And they know about that. They know they must react very fast.

Swansea can take solace from their impressive home form where they have only been beaten by Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea in the league since Carvalhal came in at the end of 2017, with Spurs also winning in the FA Cup.

Swansea manager Carlos Carvalhal says they put in a lot effort against Bournemouth but the home side deserved the win "Since we arrive, all the games we play at home, we perform really well," he added.

"All of them. Possibly the cup game against Tottenham was the game that was hard for us. All the others, we dominated and were better than our opponents. "Even Chelsea, if you saw the game you can see we dominated the game and we could achieve much more. I don't have any reason to doubt we can do it on Tuesday.

"My players will give the maximum, the fans will give the maximum, and when we play in Liberty, usually, we are a strong team, and it is our (plan) to be a strong team on Tuesday."

Meanwhile, Southampton boss Mark Hughes thinks Nathan Redmond could be returning to his "natural" best at just the right time. Redmond came off the bench to head Saints into a 1-0 lead at Everton on Saturday, only for the visitors to leak a late goal to leave Goodison Park with a frustrating draw.

Hughes believes Redmond has been suffering a crisis of confidence amid Saints' struggles but now hopes the 24-year-old can hit back to form at the perfect moment. "I haven't been at the club that long and I think it was just Nathan, he is basically an outstanding player, he lost a little bit of confidence maybe and that was evident in his play," Hughes told the Southern Daily Echo.

"Sometimes he was being too sure, rather than being the natural player he is but I thought he was excellent when he came on, clearly understood what was required of him and when we made the change, that shows he is engaged and focused on what is happening on the pitch. "I obviously had to make the decision not to start him so he was disappointed with that but it didn't affect his focus on the game itself because that was why he was able to make the impact he did."

Swansea will hope to have Kyle Naughton back after the full-back missed his side's 1-0 loss at Bournemouth with a stomach bug, with Sam Clucas back in the frame to start after being left on the bench due to a knock.

Carvalhal could contemplate changes for the must-win encounter, though Kyle Bartley is out and set to miss the rest of the season with knee ligament damage.

Saints must do without Maya Yoshida for their trip to South Wales, with the Japan defender suspended after his red card at Everton. And midfielder Mario Lemina could miss out too after picking up a hamstring problem on Merseyside, while Steven Davis continues to battle Achilles trouble.