Swansea captain makes Sunderland claim after defeats against Leeds, Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton

Swansea captain Matt Grimes says he could feel the pressure from Sunderland’s home crowd and praised his team for holding onto a 2-1 win.

The Swans dominated the first half at the Stadium of Light as two goals from Ronald gave them a half-time lead. Luke O’Nien managed to pull a goal back for Sunderland 13 minutes from time, yet the Black Cats couldn’t find an equaliser. 

For Swansea, it was just the side’s second win in eight league games under head coach Luke Williams, following a run of tricky fixtures. “It was a brilliant win,” Grimes told Swansea’s website. “ I think obviously it’s been a real tough run of tough fixtures. To come away from home here and perform like we did, especially in the first half, is a testament to the lads.

“In the games that we’ve played, we’ve played against Southampton, Leicester, Ipswich, Leeds, so we wanted to be on the front foot but we know how dangerous those teams are. They are four of the best teams the Championship has ever seen.

“We knew coming here, we have worked on it all week, and we’ll only continue to get better and better. I thought we were brilliant in the first half. It could have been more than two if I’m honest and just really pleased with the three points.”

When asked about the late pressure Sunderland applied, with 41,777 in attendance at the Stadium of Light, Grimes replied: “The crowd here is fantastic, probably one of the best in the league and you can feel it as an away team when they have a couple of chances. 

“Even a couple of half moments, there doesn’t need to be any quality, just a tackle or a forward run, and everyone is on their feet. You can feel it’s almost sucking the ball into your net. To stand up to that, the crowd, them being on top for the last 10, 15 is a brilliant result.”

Sunderland are now preparing for Saturday’s trip to Norwich, before a home game against league leaders Leicester.