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Curtis hails immediate Clement effect

Swansea - Alan Curtis says Paul Clement's arrival at Swansea on Tuesday lifted the players ahead of their batting 2-1 win over Crystal Palace.

Goals from Alfie Mawson and Angel Rangel cancelled out a Wilfried Zaha effort, to give the Swans their first win in four games, and just their fourth of the season.

Clement, who was replacing Bob Bradley, had linked up with his new team just hours after being unveiled.

And while he spent part of Tuesday's clash in the stands, he also was seen directing play from the dugout, and spoke to the players before the game and at half-time. He was also involved in all the substitutions.

Curtis, who has acted as caretaker boss on a number of occasions, admits he was pleasantly surprised by the team's reaction to the new manager.

After the clash, he told the club's official website: "Paul has come into the club because he feels we can get out of trouble.

"He had a fantastic job at Bayern Munich working with some of the best players in the world, but he wanted the challenge of coming to us.

"I think if people who have only seen our results would have been surprised by the way we played tonight, especially in the first half when we were really good.

"And I think Paul would probably have been surprised himself at how well we played."

He added: "What we have got to do now is take it on from here. We beat Sunderland the other week and thought we had turned a corner, then we lost four games in a row.

"We have some brutal fixtures coming up but, if we keep playing like that, we will compete in games."

Clement explained that the new man had only just met his new team before helping inspire them to victory.

He added: "Paul met the players this afternoon, he spoke to them before the game and at half-time.

"Then right at the end he was involved in the decisions on the touchline. 

"I think the fact that he has been appointed lifted the players. There’s nothing better for any player than having a new manager looking at you.

"I said to the players before the game that they had the first chance to impress him, and they did that.

"In the first half we were very good. In the second half we knew Palace would come at us and we didn’t keep the ball well enough."

The win sees Swansea move off the foot of the table but they face a tough set of fixtures as they next welcome to the Liberty Stadium an Arsenal side looking to fight for the league title on January 14.

Kick off is at 17:00.

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