Swansea 1 Tottenham 3: Tim Sherwood praises in-form striker Emmanuel Adebayour after brace sinks Swans
Spurs boss admits he hasn't done anything to cause striker's resurgence and admits it's his own resolve behind rich vein of form
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Your support makes all the difference.Tim Sherwood believes Emmanuel Adebayor should take all the credit for his revival in form after the striker bagged a brace in Tottenham's 3-1 win at Swansea.
Adebayor headed Spurs into a 35th-minute lead and then tapped in their third after a Chico Flores own goal had doubled the visitors lead.
Wilfried Bony hit the bar and had a good penalty appeal for a push by Michael Dawson turned down in the first half, before getting Swansea's consolation late on.
The win moves Tottenham up to fifth, level on points with fourth-placed Liverpool as Sherwood, who opted against sticking with a 4-4-2 formation here, remained unbeaten in the Premier League since taking over from Andre Villas-Boas.
Adebayor has now scored six goals in eight appearances having been out of favour under the former manager, but Sherwood insisted his performances are not down to anything he has done.
"I haven't said anything to him, I have just given him the stage to play on, he hadn't had that stage for a while," said Sherwood.
"I haven't made Emmanuel Adebayor a good player, I think we already know he has been a good player at every club he has been at.
"We just needed to get some consistency out of him and I am sure if he continues to enjoy playing he will keep performing well.
"He is enjoying it, if you enjoy yourself playing football you will get the best performances out of yourself.
"He is no different to anyone else. He has a smile on his face, is scoring goals and is enjoying it.
"We are trying to encourage the boys to roll the ball into him because he makes things happen. He dictates the pace of the game for us and he likes to get it wide as he knows there is a chance he can score from the cross.
"After his first goal he grew even more and started dominating the game for us. But there's been no magic wand from me. He has always been a good player."
Swansea, meanwhile, remain just three points above the relegation zone after another defeat and another injury, as Jonjo Shelvey's hamstring problem saw him join Michu, Michel Vorm, Pablo Hernandez, Jonathan de Guzman, Nathan Dyer, Jose Canas and Garry Monk on the sidelines.
Their injury woes and the alarming manner in which they faded following Adebayor's opener will be very troubling for manager Michael Laudrup, who admitted his side are in a difficult spot having gone eight league games without a win.
He said: "Everything is black and negative right now. Let's start again tomorrow or the day after and see if we can get some players back to fitness and back in the team.
"Then it is a matter of getting a win, like with a lot of teams in our situation.
"Even if it seems a dark difficult moment for us, we can say the others are still there around us.
"We just need a little more luck in certain situations, maybe a goal in a certain time."
PA
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