The goals have gone: Premier League stifled by growing conservatism | Paul Wilson


Swansea’s win over Liverpool brought back some welcome unpredictability but the dourness on offer beneath the Champions League chasers is troubling

Swansea City may be out of intensive care and receiving visitors – Carlos Carvalhal’s propensity for entertaining metaphor could be among the highlights of the second half of the season – though unfortunately, and to keep the medical theme going, a cutting edge is normally required for surgery to be successful.

Valuable as the three points against Liverpool were, they were secured by a goal from a Swansea defender. It was Alfie Mawson’s second of the season, which puts him within reach of Jordan Ayew and Tammy Abraham as the club’s leading scorer. Which is another way of saying Swansea are not scoring enough goals. Ayew and Abraham are both on four in the Premier League and Swansea’s feeble total of 15 goals scored from 24 games is perhaps the main reason why they are propping up the table.

Related: How Claude Puel calmed Leicester down and carried them up the table

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