Swansea City 1-1 Crystal Palace

Gylfi Sigurdsson's goal was his fifth in six matches

Crystal Palace arrested a run of five straight defeats thanks to Scott Dann's fifth goal of the season as Swansea slipped to four points above the Premier League relegation zone.

Gylfi Sigurdsson's fine free-kick gave Swansea a well-earned half-time lead.

Palace equalised soon after the restart with Dann's close-range finish from a corner.

Sigurdsson almost snatched victory with another free-kick, but his late effort was well saved by Wayne Hennessey.

The Swans remain 16th in the table and unbeaten under new head coach Francesco Guidolin, while Palace's first point since December keeps them 12th.

Sigurdsson's resurgence

This was a tale of two strikers making their first starts for their new clubs - Alberto Paloschi for Swansea and Emmanuel Adebayor for Palace.

Adebayor's first contribution was an inglorious one, the former Arsenal and Tottenham forward pushing Sigurdsson to concede the free-kick which the Icelandic midfielder then whipped into the corner from 20 yards to put Swansea in front.

It was Sigurdsson's fifth goal in six games and, after an underwhelming first half of the season, it was telling that his resurgence mirrored the upturn in Swansea's fortunes.

A corner of his almost led to a second Swansea goal, but Andre Ayew's sliding effort at the back post squirmed wide.

Palace arrest their slump

While Swansea had managed two wins and a draw since Guidolin's January appointment, Palace appeared to be in freefall having lost their last five league games.

They barely threatened in a limp first-half display but they were level within two minutes of the second.

For a third successive match, Swansea conceded from a set-piece as Yohan Cabaye's corner was flicked on to Dann, who found the net despite a touch from Lukasz Fabianski.

Two sides short of goals

Swansea (left) directed only three of their 19 shots on target, while Palace (right) only mustered two out of 12

When the two sides last met, playing out a goalless draw on 28 December, Palace were enjoying an unlikely flirtation with the Premier League's top four while Swansea were drifting perilously close towards relegation.

After that, Palace lost all five of their league fixtures, mustering just two goals in the process, while Swansea entered this match as the division's joint-second lowest scorers despite their improved results.

There was no shortage of chances in the second half, with Ashley Williams twice going close for the Swans and Palace substitute Hiram Boateng shooting wide.

Sigurdsson was denied a second goal from a free-kick as his delicate effort was palmed away by Hennessey, and there was a certain inevitability about the teams failing in their pursuit of a precious second goal.

Man of the match - Gylfi Sigurdsson

The Iceland midfielder was the creative hub of every Swansea attack, scoring with one excellent free-kick and almost netting a second late on

What they said

Swansea manager Francesco Guidolin:

"I am not happy [with a point] because my opinion is that my team played very well for 90 minutes. We had many possibilities to score.

"We controlled the game, which is not easy with the weather. Crystal Palace is a good team and they played well, but we played better.

"It was another good performance, I think it's the best in my period at the club. We can have confidence because the team is good, the fitness is good. We must work to improve in set-piece situations."

Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew:

"The point today is so important. We knew we had to get something today, so that was a very good result. It was really tough, with a lot of energy and a lot of commitment from both teams.

"We were playing with our brakes on but we had a reaction to the chat at half-time. Swansea have been in good form and we came back, which makes it all the sweeter.

"[Emmanuel] Adebayor had a couple of moments that were top-drawer - you can see that he's going to add something. We still look a bit like we need a bit more going forward at this level. [Yohan] Cabaye was terrific. There's a bit of relief on our side and we take that into the Watford game."

The stats you need to know

• Since his debut in January 2012, only Tottenham's Christian Eriksen (six) has scored more free-kick goals in the Premier League than Sigurdsson (five).

• Scott Dann has scored five Premier League goals in 2015-16 - this after having scored six in 125 Premier League games before this season.

• Dann's goal was the eighth by a Crystal Palace defender in the league this season, more than any other team.

• Crystal Palace became the final team in the top four tiers of English football to register a league point in 2016.

• The Swans have netted 58% of their goals in the first half of games this season, the highest proportion in the top flight.

What's next?

Swansea host Southampton next Saturday, while Crystal Palace entertain Watford.