Swansea City moved to within three points of the top four by beating Aston Villa 1-0 at the Liberty Stadium this afternoon.

Gylfi Sigurdsson's first-half free kick proved enough for the Swans to claim the three points and close in on fourth-placed West Ham United, who lost 2-0 at Chelsea earlier.

Villa dominated the second half but ultimately came up short in their bid for a deserved equaliser.

Here, Sports Mole takes a look at how the players fared on a rain-soaked pitch in South Wales.

© Getty Images

Goal

Lukasz Fabianski: Had nothing to do for 92 minutes but pulled off an outstanding save to deny Benteke in the closing stages. (7/10)

Defence

Angel Rangel: Never really put a foot wrong, but did not have the liveliest of afternoons against Clark and Cissokho respectively. (6/10)

Federico Fernandez: The Argentine continues to impress for Swansea and looked far more assured than his centre-half partner Williams at a time when Villa looked determined to bag an equaliser. Solid. (7/10)

Ashley Williams: Coped well with Benteke and Agbonlahor in the first half, but the Villa duo bullied the Wales international as the game went on, and he was lucky to stay on the field at one point. Mixed bag. (5/10)

Neil Taylor: Coasted through the first half without ever really needing to do anything, but that changed when Weimann came on and Taylor struggled to contain him at times. (5/10)

Midfield

Ki Sung-yeung: He was clumsy to slide in on Weimann inside the box, who admirably stayed on his feet, while he also missed a one-on-one with Guzan. Okay performance overall. (5/10)

Jonjo Shelvey: Booked for a cynical foul on Agbonlahor early on, but showed good discipline to stay on the field and launched one or two exceptional long-range balls to Bony, who could do little with them. (6/10)

Jefferson Montero: Only lasted 20 minutes before pulling up with an apparent hamstring injury, but did win the free kick that led to Sigurdsson's opener. Left the field in tears. (6/10)

Nathan Dyer: Has all the pace and trickery necessary to trouble a defender like Clark, but was never allowed to utilise any of his assets in a game where Clark bossed him throughout. (5/10)

Gylfi Sigurdsson: Opened the scoring with a fine free kick and would have had 'assist of the season' had Ki slotted his Dennis Bergkamp-esque pass in the second half. Class. (7/10)

Attack

Wilfried Bony: Spent a lot of the game with his hands on his hips by virtue of Vlaar's refusal to allow him play. Swansea fans will not see him produce a more anonymous 90 minutes for the rest of the campaign. (4/10)

Substitutes

Wayne Routledge: One or two bright moments since replacing Montero after 20 minutes, but his final ball let him down regularly. (5/10)

Tom Carroll: Replaced Shelvey in a like-for-like switch. Solid if not spectacular cameo from the Spurs youngster. (6/10)

Marvin Emnes: Had 12 minutes in which to showcase his abilities to potential suitors amid speculation that he could leave in January, but barely got on the ball. (5/10)

Goal

Brad Guzan: Perhaps one or two question marks over him for failing to keep out Sigurdsson's opener. Had very little to do other than that. (4/10)

Defence

Alan Hutton: Would've been delighted to see Montero go off injured after the Colombian tormented him in the first 20 minutes. Coped much better with Routledge from then on. (6/10)

Ron Vlaar: Battled extremely hard against Bony to make the eight-goal Swansea hitman look rather ordinary throughout the 90 minutes. Comfortably Villa's best player overall. (8/10)

Jores Okore: Hesitated in possession once or twice and conceded the free kick that led to the opening goal. Struggled big time with the wet conditions. (4/10)

Ciaran Clark: Did exceptionally well to combat the jet-heeled Dyer; showing enough defensive nous to never allow himself get into a foot race with the winger. (6/10)

Aly Cissokho: Looked very ineffective as the left wing-back, contributing very little to either defence or attack and was subbed off before the start of the second half. (4/10)

Midfield

Carlos Sanchez: Another Villa player who was far too lackadaisical in possession, but was far better in the second half. (6/10)

Fabian Delph: Lively as always but did not contribute as much as he perhaps could have. Very mixed bag for the England international. (5/10)

Tom Cleverley: Strengthened his case for a permanent move to Villa with another very decent performance in midfield. Made the wrong from set pieces at times, but overall did very little. (6/10)

Attack

Gabriel Agbonlahor: Linked up really well with Weimann in a second half that they took control of for Villa. (6/10)

Christian Benteke: Like Bony, struggled to have an impact in the final third, but would have bagged a late equaliser if not Fabianski's heroics. (5/10)

Substitutes

Andreas Weimann: The second-half sub had a massive impact but had his teammates raging at one point after failing to pick them out in a three-on-one situation that would have led to an equaliser. Brilliant cameo overall, but decision making let him down. (6/10)

Jack Grealish: Good cameo overall, fizzing one or two brilliant balls into the danger zone but neither found a claret and blue shirt. (6/10)

Written by
Shane Callaghan