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Everton-Swansea City Preview

Swansea City can break their Premier League points record when they welcome Everton to the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.

Garry Monk's Swansea (13-7-11) will match their previous best tally for a top-flight season with a draw against the Toffees, while a win would set a new club record… with six games still to play.

The Swans should be confident of achieving that goal after winning back-to-back games going into Saturday's fixture - with both victories coming against relegation-threatened sides in Hull City and Aston Villa - and Monk believes that the lure of a record points tally has inspired his players to do more than just settle for a mid-table finish.

"A lot of people have questioned in recent weeks what we have to play for," Monk said. "It was one of the targets we set at the start of the season and we have a great chance to do that. We have seven games to go, we are one point behind it and hopefully we'll surpass that and push on from there. We set targets in-house at the start of the season and that was one of them and hopefully we can reveal a few more by the end of the season.

"The first objective in all three previous seasons, and this year, was to get safe as soon as possible. What has happened at that stage previously is we have possible relaxed a little and tapered off towards the end of the season. It's natural to have that when you are new to the league, but this season we have tried to focus on wanting more. It's the right mentality to have and the players are doing very well at the moment."

Saturday's visitors to the Liberty Stadium, Everton (9-10-12), have hit a rich vein of form at exactly the right time.

Roberto Martinez's side were deep in relegation trouble just a month ago, but three wins on the bounce have boosted the Toffees well clear of the drop zone. One more win in the club's remaining seven games would take them to the 40-point target that generally guarantees safety, but Martinez is already looking forward to next season and the prospect of taking some momentum into the new campaign with a strong run of results between Saturday and the May 24 curtain call.

"In football, everything that happens in the final third of the season has a massive say in whatever you want to do in the next window - that's always the case," Martinez said. "We are in a competitive business and it's important as you go from window to window that you end up with a stronger squad. The performances that we put in now are a very good reference in terms of making decisions in the summer and becoming a strong team so that we can become a winning side."

There is no denying that it has been a hugely disappointing season for Everton, but Martinez appears to have discovered a system that works well for his players, with Arouna Kone spearheading the side in a two-pronged attack alongside Romelu Lukaku or Ross Barkley.

Lukaku is likely to be back in contention after a hamstring injury and is expected to replace Barkley in the line-up that beat Southampton last weekend. However, Bryan Oviedo, Tony Hibbert and Darron Gibson remain out.

Swansea will be without full-back Kyle Naughton for their remaining matches due to an ankle injury, while on-loan Spurs midfielder Tom Carroll is also out with a knee ligament injury. Jefferson Montero and Jack Cork face late fitness tests.

It was a goalless draw when these teams met at Goodison Park in November. Swansea have never beaten Everton in the Premier League - losing five times and drawing twice - but they did knock the Toffees out of the League Cup with a 3-0 win at the Liberty Stadium earlier this season.

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