Swansea City equal the club's record points tally in the Premier League, after a second half penalty from Jonjo Shelvey secured the home side's 47th point of the season.

The home side started the brighter, controlling possession with relative ease, and almost took the lead through the in-form Bafetimbi Gomis. After a short free kick was played into his feet on the edge of the penalty area, the former Lyon forward swivelled past Phil Jagielka, before unleashing a venomous curling effort on goal. With the ball seemingly destined to nestle in the top right corner of the net however, Tim Howard scurried across his goal line to tip the ball around the post. 

Due to Swansea City’s territorial dominance, Everton largely struggled in the opening half an hour to find their way out of their own half and into the final third. However, on one of the rare occurrences in which the visitors pushed forward in this period, they almost grabbed the opening goal of the game. Republic of Ireland international, Seamus Coleman, rifled a low strike from the right hand side across goal, which Fabianski had to be at full stretch to keep out of the bottom left hand corner of the net.

Coleman’s long range effort on goal proved to be the catalyst for a period of dominance for the Roberto Martinez’s men; a dominance which Aaron Lennon capitalised upon to bag his first league goal of the season. After some neat interplay on the left flank between Arouna Kone and Leighton Baines, James McCarthy latched onto the ball and curled a low cross into the penalty area. The cross bounced kindly into the path of loanee, Aaron Lennon, who controlled the ball before subsequently volleying the ball across Fabianski and into the bottom left corner of the net. 

Gary Monk’s men, after struggling to contain Everton at the end of the first half, began to grow into the game once again on the hour mark. A sustained period of pressure from the Swans culminated in the home side being awarded a penalty in the 67th minute, for a Coleman hand ball on the left hand side of the penalty area. From the resulting spot kick, former Liverpool man, Jonjo Shelvey, coolly slid the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal; sending Tim Howard the wrong way in the process.

Despite the game being seemingly set up for a grand stand finish, the final twenty minutes proved to be almost solely contested in the middle of the park. Both sides’ attempts to gain a foothold in the final phase of the match ultimately led to a stalemate in the centre of the midfield, with neither side being able to push into the final third with any real potency.

The result leaves both sides comfortably sitting in the middle of the table; however, Roberto Martinez will be disappointed that his side could not hold onto a one goal advantage once again in the Premier League.

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About the author
Jack  Gallagher
Member of the VAVEL writing team since June 2012, and became editor-in-chief of the UK edition in June 2013. English and History at QUB.