Swansea City forward Andre Ayew believes his side have ‘learned their lessons’ from their recent dip in-form, as they look to return to the top of the Championship table against Barnsley on Saturday.

Steve Cooper's inaugural season in first-team management has so far gone well. His Swansea side is fourth in the Championship after being written off by most, and Cooper may feel his side should be higher after their recent dip in form.

Swansea were leading the table after winning five of their first six in the Championship. But after winning just one of their last five in the league, the most recent being a 2-1 loss at home to bottom-club Stoke City, Cooper’s side have slipped down to fourth.

The sole-scorer that day for Swansea, Andre Ayew spoke to the official club website today:

“We’re going to learn from that game. It may not seem like it now, but this will be a good lesson for us,” 

“We’re still in it; we’re only a point away from the leaders.

“We’ve done great things this season and some that aren’t so great. But what we’re doing at the moment is good and we need to continue that.

“A lot of teams would love to be where we are in the table. I believe in the squad – there is no problem.

“When you’re towards the top of the table, you have to respond when things go wrong – that’s very important.”

Ayew, 29, arrived in South Wales in 2015 and after an impressive debut season in the Premier League, was bought by West Ham for the next season.

He spent two years in East London before returning to Swansea in 2017 for a club-record fee of £18 million.

Ayew failed to make the same impact as he did in his first season and was sent out on-loan to Fenerbahce last season.

But he’s returned to form under Cooper this season, with four goals in all competitions so far.

The verdict

Swansea have shown their class this season, but their last defeat against Stoke almost summed them up.

Too often they’ve proved inconsistent, but Ayew believes that his side can stamp that out, and mount an unexpected promotion push this season.

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