Swansea City: Premier League still priority in Cup week - Carvalhal

Carlos Carvalhal took Sheffield Wednesday to the Championship play-offs in successive seasons, with his side beaten by Hull at Wembley in the final in 2016

Swansea City manager Carlos Carvalhal is prioritising the Premier League in the week he returns to Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup fifth round.

Carvalhal describes his return to Hillsborough less than two months after his departure from the Championship club as "going home."

But he says cup ambition is secondary to Swansea's fight against relegation.

"May be to me as a manager it would be fantastic to win the trophy, but I am not selfish," he said.

"At this point I understand it is very important to stay in the Premier League."

Swansea have lost just once in 11 games since the 52-year-old was appointed on 28 December, and an unbeaten run of nine matches has seen them climb out of the bottom three.

A kind of homecoming

He has changed his teams for cup wins over Wolves and Notts County and says he will not change his approach.

"We are underdogs in this competition, kind of outsiders," he added.

"We are underdogs not because we are worse than the opponents but because we have a main competition. That main competition is the Premier League.

"This is where we are completely focussed. We are trying to do our best in the cup but it is not our priority.

"But... we must respect the cup, we will try to do our best to go to the next stage."

Carvalhal spent two and a half years at Sheffield Wednesday, twice leading them to the Championship play-offs and admits returning will be emotional.

"It's like when you live in a house. You move your things out, you know everything in your house and after two months you go back again. It's not yours any more but you still feel part of the house," he added.

Cup-tied players miss out

Deadline day recruits striker Andre Ayew and Wales midfielder Andy King are ineligible because they are cup tied.

Centre forward Wilfried Bony had surgery on an anterior cruciate ligament injury yesterday and will miss the rest of the season along with Leroy Fer, who has ruptured an Achilles tendon.

But Carvalhal hopes Portuguese midfielder Renato Sanches will return from a hamstring problem next month, while Angel Rangel is expected to be fit for the run-in following groin surgery.