It's not a question of firing - Carvalhal defiant on Swansea future

Carlos Carvalhal will hold talks over his Swansea City future at the end of the season but has refuted suggestions he will be let go by the club.

Swansea will be relegated from the Premier League on Sunday unless they beat bottom side Stoke City, in addition to a heavy defeat for Southampton against champions Manchester City that leads to a swing in goal difference of 10.

Reports claimed on Thursday that Swansea will not retain Carvalhal for the 2018-19 season, the Portuguese initially leading an upturn in results after succeeding Paul Clement, before seeing his side fail to win any of their last eight Premier League games.

Swansea have scored only twice during that run, drawing blanks in their previous four matches to slip towards the Championship, but Carvalhal - whose contract expires at the end of the campaign - came out fighting in a lengthy news conference on Friday.

"I talked to the chairman [Huw Jenkins] these last few days," he said in a prepared statement.

"I was not with my head ready to talk about anything in the future. I said to him I'm not ready to talk in this moment, I'm affected by the last game, the next one.

"After we will talk and decide what is the best to Swansea, and I will see what is the best for me.

"I'm a manager until the end of the contract, it's not a question of firing."

Carvalhal issued a strong defence of his record at the Liberty Stadium, stating injuries to players including Renato Sanches, Leroy Fer and Wilfried Bony have had an impact, while highlighting the club's difficulties in making signings in the January transfer window.

"We didn't start the season here as you know," he said. "I think it's important to compare our games and the games before we arrived.

"We reached the quarter-final of the FA Cup as you know, which was a good achievement, and in the Premier League we have had 17 games. Before we arrived, the club had played 20 league games – three more.

"Before we arrived, the team won three league games. In 17 games, we won five. Before we arrived, there were four draws, after we arrived there were five draws. Before we arrived, there were 13 losses, with us we lost seven.

"Goals scored before were 11 in 20 games, and with us there were 16 in 17 games. Goals against before were 31 and with us there were 23. That means before the goal difference was minus 20 and with us it was minus seven.

"When we arrived we had 13 points, with us we achieved 20. The reality is that with that number since we arrived, we are in the middle of the table. We have one more point than Brighton, four more than Watford and West Brom, five more than Southampton, six more than Huddersfield, 10 more than Stoke since we arrived.

"It was not easy situation when we came in. We discovered some gaps in the squad and we covered them in January. It was very difficult for us to get players. Not because the chairman did not do the maximum and not because the investors did not do the maximum, but the reality was that players didn't want to come to Swansea because we were last in the table and nobody believed we could jump positions."