Swansea City 3 Sunderland 0: Afternoon to forget for Cats after second half collapse

Sunderland were beaten 3-0 at the Liberty Stadium.

On a disappointing afternoon in South Wales, two goals in three second half minutes from Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente handed the Swans the advantage before the Spaniard added a third late on to sentence the Black Cats to their eleventh defeat of the season.

It could have been so different, though, with Sunderland having their chances in a closely-fought first half.

Jermain Defoe came closest for the visitors after an incisive counter-attacking move which saw stopper Pickford find Anichebe who played in the Black Cats captain, only to see him fire over.

Full-back Billy Jones then found himself in unfamiliar territory as he bustled his way into the Swansea box before electing to tee up Sebastian Larsson rather than shoot - a decision which allowed the hosts to clear.

The Swans’ main threat was coming from the set-pieces of Sigurdsson, who picked out both Alfie Mawson and Jordi Amat with whipped deliveries, but neither defender was able to hit the target as the first half ended goalless.

David Moyes sent his side out fighting in the second half and they almost took the lead within minutes of the restart as Patrick Van Aanholt fed Defoe with the striker advancing on goal before curling wide.

And this miss was to prove costly as Swansea took the lead moments later - Sigurdsson slotting home a penalty after Jason Denayer had handled a Wayne Routledge cross in the area.

The lead was extended just three minutes later with Sigurdsson turning provider as his low cross caught out the Black Cats’ backline allowing Llorente to divert it past Jordan Pickford.

It could have been more shortly after if not for the Pickford, the young goalkeeper acrobatically denying Amat after he won a free header.

There was nothing he could do to stop a third goal, however, as Routledge’s chipped cross found Llorente six yards out with the World Cup winner having the easy task of nodding home.

That rounded off a miserable afternoon for Sunderland, who now have to regroup ahead of the visit of Chelsea on Wednesday evening.

Swansea City: Fabianski, Amat, Taylor, Mawson, Britton (C), Llorente (McBurnie 84), Routledge, Barrow (Montero 77), Rangel, Sigurdsson, Fulton

Subs Not Used: Nordfeldt, Van Der Hoorn, Fer, Cork, Naughton

Goals: Sigurdsson (51), Llorente (54, 80)

Yellow Cards: Mawson (60)

Sunderland: Pickford, Jones, Van Aanholt, Denayer, Djilobodji, Larsson (Januzaj 55), Ndong (Kirchoff 57), Defoe, Pienaar (Manquillo 85), Kone, Anichebe

Subs Not Used: Mannone, Borini, Khazri, O’Shea

Yellow Cards: Ndong (18), Denayer (43)