Paul Clement: Swansea City boss says Leicester City game is a 'six pointer'

Swansea head coach Paul Clement admits the visit of champions Leicester City will be Swansea's first 'six pointer' of the season.

Claudio Ranieri's champions are level on points with the Swans after a revival that saw Clement named Premier League manager of the month.

"It can change things quickly, it is a six-point fixture, definitely," he said.

"We will not play each other again this season. That makes it more important."

Clement admits he is surprised at the level of turmoil the champions are currently experiencing.

"I suppose it is surprising," he said. "It just shows how quickly things can change. I don't even mean from last season to this. I think they had four losses, they were doing okay, they were never up the top, but that has seen them slide.

"It can happen to anybody. The bottom of the table can change really quickly this weekend with it being so tightly packed. One team wins and everyone else loses and it is going to look really good for that team."

A battle between six or seven

The former Derby County manager is pleased that Swansea's recent revival has increased the number of Premier League sides now looking nervously over their shoulders.

"When I took the job it looked like four teams, now it's six. It is absolutely six, but who knows after this weekend whether it is going to be that, whether it is going to be seven," he said.

"Bournemouth could be dragged into it. They play Man City in Bournemouth so very difficult game for them."

Clement believes Leicester will be motivated by the speculation over the future of manager Claudio Ranieri.

"It's going to sharpen us," he told BBC Wales Sport.

"We expect a very good team coming down. We've had to go to some very difficult places recently. Anfield and Manchester City, you know that you have to be absolutely focused. The hype and speculation regarding Leicester is just going to focus us even more."

Carlo Ancelotti and Paul Clement

Defeat is worse as a head coach

Clement, for a long time associated with Carlo Ancelotti as an assistant boss, admits defeat hurts all the more as a head coach.

Swansea were beaten in injury time by Manchester City last time out and Clement admits the feeling was worse than tasting defeat as an assistant.

It hurts a hundred times more," he said. "It's terrible when you're the head coach.

"After the game I'm looking back at all the situations where players could've done better, if I had my time again, what I might've done differently to stop us getting to that point. ]

"But I said to the players about moving on quickly, emotionally, from a victory or defeat. It doesn't mean you have to forget about the technical or tactical things about where you can do better.

"But from an emotional point of view, you have to move on fast. You can't dwell on it, good or bad."