The last five years for Swansea City have been very eventful with them going from a position of relative mid-table security in the Premier League to now fighting to make a return to the top-flight.

At the start of the period, the Swans were an established Premier League side but there were one or two signs that was under threat during the 2016/17 season, with Francesco Guidolin, Bob Bradley and Paul Clement all having stints in charge of the club as they just about managed to survive the drop.

The following year, Swansea would not be so fortunate. Clement could not build on the success he had keeping the Swans in the league the previous campaign and in the end, he was replaced by Carlos Carvalhal.

The Portuguese coach though was unable to keep them in the top-flight and they were relegated at the end of the 2017/18 season.

Graham Potter took over in the summer of 2018 and started to rebuild the Swans in the Championship with a number of key players departing. He guided the club to a top ten finish in the second tier on a tight budget while playing some good football and that tempted Brighton to hand him their job the following summer.

Steve Cooper then took over and for the next two seasons and he guided the Swans with a more pragmatic style to the play-offs on two occasions. They lost the play-off semi-final to Brentford in 2019/20 before losing to the same opponents in the final last term.

The departure of Cooper in the summer has left Russell Martin in charge now to try and go one better than his predecessor and get the Swans back in the top-flight.

So, with all that in mind, we have taken a go at selecting the best Swansea starting line-up from the past five years. Do you agree?

This was a very difficult side to select considering that the Swans had a number of quality players in the first two years of this period when they were still operating in the Premier League.

However, it can not be ignored that the Swans ultimately ended up getting relegated with those players, whilst in the Championship less established names have at times overperformed to get them in the top-six two years in a row.

For the shape of this season, a 3-4-1-2 formation has been selected as a way to best get as many players deserving of a place in the side for their performances in the last five years as possible.

 

 

In goal, it was a very tough choice between Lukas Fabianski and Freddie Woodman. Fabianski at his best was an exceptional keeper for the Swans and the Poland international did perform well despite suffering relegation with the Swans in the 2017/18 season. He has since proven his class at West Ham.

Woodman though has been selected because he really did play a pivotal role in helping the Swans emerge as one of the most solid teams in the Championship in the last two seasons. Without his presence in goal, the Swans might not have been able to reach two successive play-off semi-finals.

At right-wing-back, Conor Roberts has been selected due to the excellent performances he was able to show for the Swans over the last few years. He moved on in the summer to Burnley, but few would begrudge himself that move after emerging as one of the best right-backs outside of the top-flight in the previous two seasons.

Down the left-hand side, Jake Bidwell has been selected after his impressive form as well for the Swans in the last few years. He has proven to be an excellent signing by the club after he arrived from QPR in the summer of 2019.

The back three was very difficult to select. The likes of Joe Rodon and Federico Fernandez in particular are two players that are very unfortunate to miss out.

However, Marc Guehi has been selected due to his impressive performances on loan from Chelsea, while Ben Cagango has really emerged as a crucial player for the Swans. Alfie Mawson completes the trio after his displays in the 2017/18 campaign.

In the midfield two, Matt Grimes had to be selected with him being the standout player in that position at Swansea over the last five years. He has been joined by Connor Hourihane, who just sneaks in ahead of Jay Fulton, after his excellent form whilst on loan from Aston Villa last term.

Rhian Brewster earns a place just off the front two after firing home 11 goals in 22 games during his loan spell from Liverpool in the 2019/20 season.

While Andre Ayew had to be included thanks to his excellent goal-scoring form in the Championship. He is partnered by Ollie McBurnie after he fired home 22 goals in 42 appearances in the 2018/19 campaign.