Norwich City 1-0 Swansea City

Norwich kept their first Premier League clean sheet of the season in their 12th league match

Norwich City arrested a run of four league defeats as Jonny Howson's goal earned a scrappy victory over Swansea.

The midfielder tapped in his first goal of the season after Dieumerci Mbokani headed a corner back across goal.

Swansea hit the bar through Gylfi Sigurdsson's clever scooped attempt from Wayne Routledge's cross.

But Norwich held firm to record their first clean sheet of the season and condemn Swansea to a fifth defeat in eight games.

The win moves Alex Neil's side up to 15th in the table, and they are now just one point and one place behind their opponents.

For Swansea, defeat continues a poor run that has seen them slip from fourth in the table at the end of August, and will put renewed pressure on manager Garry Monk to address the worst spell of his tenure.

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Canaries end abject home run

Going into the match, the Canaries had won just one and lost six of their last eight home games.

But though this was far from a classic home performance - with the hosts enjoying just 33% of possession - Norwich were deserving winners as they created the clearer chances.

In a dire first half, they fashioned the sole clear opportunity, with Cameron Jerome heading just over from the excellent Howson's free-kick after 15 minutes.

And they could have added a second as Swansea folded late on, with Robbie Brady firing wide from a narrow angle and Wes Hoolahan forcing a fine save from Lukasz Fabianski with a venomous drive.

Swansea's trident blunted

Bafetimbi Gomis's heatmap shows how, despite playing as a lone striker, he was predominantly forced to drop deep to receive possession

Sigurdsson's clever effort aside, this was a desperately disappointing performance from Swansea, who failed to muster a single shot on target despite having two-thirds of possession.

And Monk will be particularly concerned by the continuing ineffectiveness of attacking trio Jefferson Montero, Andre Ayew and Bafetimbi Gomis.

They were superb as Swansea went unbeaten in August, with winger Ayew and striker Gomis netting seven goals between them and Montero tormenting full-backs with his direct running.

But they have only managed two goals between them in the seven games since and here again all three were a pale imitation of their best.

Montero was substituted after 62 minutes of another quiet display, while Gomis was marshalled out of the game by Norwich centre-backs Ryan Bennett and Sebastien Bassong, and failed to find the target with any of his five shots.

Man of the match - Jonny Howson

In a poor game, Howson (left) stood out as much for the quality of his delivery from set pieces as his crucial goal

What they said

Norwich City manager Alex Neil: "It certainly wasn't one of our best performances of the season, but we created the best chances in the game and kept it tight at the back.

"We changed our style, which I felt was necessary because we haven't been keeping enough clean sheets. I thought the lads responded well to that, though conceding possession at home is not something we are used to.

"I'm really delighted for the players. Our confidence has never been in question, but we needed to ensure we got points on the board."

Swansea City manager Garry Monk: "It's very frustrating. We had total control up until the goal, but unfortunately one lapse of concentration has cost us dearly again and it's been the story of the last couple of weeks.

"It was a difficult game, but our intention was right. We knew we might only get one or two chances. But we got caught with a sucker punch against the run of play. We totally dominated Norwich with the ball and didn't allow them anything other than the goal.

"We have work to do now. We have to look and assess where we are."

The stats you need to know

• Jonny Howson's goal was his first in his last 31 Premier League games, with his last coming back in October 2013 against Arsenal.

• It was Norwich's first headed goal in the top flight this season.

• Swansea are now without a clean sheet in six Premier League games, their worst run since August 2014, when they went seven matches without a shutout.

• They have won just one of their last 16 away trips to Carrow Road in all competitions (W1 D3 L12).

What's next?

Swansea take on Bournemouth at home on Saturday 21 November, while Norwich visit Chelsea on the same day.