Swansea City left-back Neil Taylor braced for demanding season

Wales defender Neil Taylor believes next season will be the toughest yet for Europe-bound Swansea City.

Swansea embark on their third campaign in the Premier League next season.

And Michael Laudrup's side will also play in the Europa League, which Taylor says will put extra demands on the squad.

"The demands it's going to put on the team, whatever squad we have next season, everybody's going to play a part," Taylor said.

"It's going to be a really long season.

"I think we're going to have a heavy pre-season because we have to get ready for Europe which comes early.

"I look at the figures and the amount of games Chelsea and Newcastle have played and it's unbelievable."

Swansea qualified for the Europa League with victory over Bradford City in the Capital One Cup final and will enter at the third qualifying round stage.

Taylor has not played for Swansea since September after breaking and dislocating his ankle against Sunderland.

But the St Asaph-born player was on the bench for Swansea's home game against Southampton last Saturday.

Although he did not feature in the 0-0 draw at the Liberty Stadium, Taylor hopes to play before the end of the season.

"I'm pretty much ahead of schedule," Taylor told BBC Wales Sport.

"I'm not rushing anything and I've left everything mostly to the physio team and the staff to manage me however they want and I give them whatever feedback I can.

"The first three months I wasn't sure how it was going to pan out. Once I started running and working on it I still didn't know how long it would take.

"But it's progressed really well and luckily I've not hit any stumbling blocks that have stopped me. I've got to where I am at the moment and I'm pretty relaxed about everything now."

Taylor hopes to feature once again in Swansea's match-day squad for Sunday's trip to Chelsea in the Premier League.

The Swans will be looking to end a run of five games without victory against a side they beat at Stamford Bridge in the Capital One Cup in January.

"We're disappointed but the games have been really tight," Taylor said of Swansea's winless run.

"There's never been a game where we've really been hammered and you think that was a really poor performance. They've just been games that could have gone either way."