Mid-season report: Swansea City

When Garry Monk took charge of Swansea City earlier this year, his one task was to keep the Welsh club in the Premier League.

The former centre-back did just and then spent the summer starting to mould together what could be described as his own squad.

Here, Sports Mole has taken a closer took at how that Swans have fared under his management during the opening five months of the 2014-15 campaign.

August

Monk probably rolled his eyes in dismay when he found out that his side's opening match of the season would be against Manchester United at Old Trafford, but the Swans could not have wished for a more perfect start as they stunned the Red Devils 2-1 thanks to goals from Ki Sung-yueng and Gylfi Sigurdsson.

The Welsh outfit followed this up with a narrow 1-0 win at home to Burnley before their 100% start to the campaign continued when they eased past West Bromwich Albion 3-0.

With a feeling of positivity around the Liberty Stadium, Swansea showed that they were also taking the cup competitions seriously after beating Rotherham United in the second round of the League Cup.

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September

Their run in the League Cup continued at the start of September with a 3-0 victory over Everton, though consecutive defeats to Chelsea and Southampton saw them jolted back to reality in the Premier League after a high-flying start.

Swansea were beaten 4-2 at Stamford Bridge in an entertaining encounter before losing 1-0 at home to the Saints, who were also enjoying a fine, if not surprising, spell of form.

The month was wrapped up in the North-East as a goalless draw with Sunderland went some way to stopping the rot.

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October

Swansea's winless run in the top flight was extended to four games when October got underway as they played out a 2-2 draw with Newcastle United, while a 2-1 defeat at Stoke City saw their slump continue.

However, they finally made a return to winning ways against Leicester City, beating the Foxes 2-0 as Wilfried Bony netted twice to take his tally to four goals in three matches.

Despite putting their disappointing run of form to bed, the month finished on a losing note with a 2-1 defeat to Liverpool knocking them out of the League Cup in the fourth round.

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November

Having earned a comfortable win over Everton in the League Cup back in September, a goalless draw at Goodison Park halted Swansea's progress in the league at the beginning of November.

One of the team's biggest results of the campaign so far came shortly before the international break though, with a 2-1 victory at home to Arsenal.

In the driving Welsh rain, Bafetimbi Gomis came off the bench to nod past Wojciech Szczesny with 15 minutes remaining and hand the hosts three vital points against the shell-shocked Gunners.

Following a two-week break, Swansea resumed their Premier League duties with a tough visit to champions Manchester City. The away side took an unexpected lead through Wilfried Bony, only for the hosts to rally and claim the victory through goals from Stevan Jovetic and Yaya Toure.

With inconsistency now becoming a key feature of the Swans, they racked up yet another draw at the end of the month when they were held at home by Crystal Palace.

December

It was another varied month in December for Swansea, who picked up three wins and two defeats from five matches.

A victory at home to Queens Park Rangers was cancelled out by successive defeats to West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur respectively, with the latter of those coming via a late goal from Christian Eriksen.

With two disappointing results under their belts heading towards the end of the year, Garry Monk's side managed to turn things around and bring some festive cheer to their fans thanks to wins over Hull City and Aston Villa, but they would head into 2015 on the back of a defeat courtesy of a 4-1 hammering away at Liverpool.

Star player so far: Wilfried Bony

Must do better: Jonjo Shelvey

Where they need to strengthen in January: Attack

Position at start of 2015: 8th

Mid-season Grade: C

To see Swansea's remaining fixtures in 2014-15, click here.