Swansea City moved to within three points of the top four by beating Aston Villa 1-0 at the Liberty Stadium this afternoon.

Gylfi Sigurdsson's first-half free kick proved enough for the Swans to claim the three points and close in on fourth-placed West Ham United, who lost 2-0 at Chelsea earlier.

Villa dominated the second half but ultimately came up short in their bid for a deserved equaliser.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at how Swansea secured the win.

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Match statistics

SWANSEA CITY
Shots: 5
On target: 2
Possession: 43%
Corners: 4
Fouls: 12

ASTON VILLA
Shots: 10
On target: 3
Possession: 57%
Corners: 0
Fouls: 17

Was the result fair?

Honestly? No. Swansea were good value for their 1-0 half-time lead, and probably should have been further ahead, but Villa addressed their shortcomings at the break and dominated from that point on, without finding the equaliser that they would have thoroughly deserved for their second-half showing.

Swansea City's performance

Swansea started exceptionally well, dominating the opening stages before going ahead through Sigurdsson's free kick on 13 minutes. Their urgency never subsided even after establishing a lead but they struggled to build on it, with the brilliant Ron Vlaar doing his utmost to keep talisman Wilfried Bony quiet.

Swansea appeared for the second half but their mentality was different - and not for the first time this season. The visitors dominated from the moment that referee Roger East signalled for the restart but, to their credit, they defended brilliantly at times to compensate for their lack of potency in the final third throughout the second half.

Did they deserve the win? No. Will they care? No. They now move within three points of fourth-placed West Ham United and, despite a very mixed performance this evening, finding a disappointed Swansea fan in South Wales would represent quite a sizeable task. Onwards and upwards for the Swans.

Aston Villa's performance

Villa started with the 5-3-2 formation that saw them hold Manchester United to a draw last weekend, but the same system looked totally ineffective against a Swansea side who dominated the opening half and perhaps should have boasted a wider winning margin at the break. The visitors improved as the half went on, but, barring a couple of efforts from Christian Benteke and Gabriel Agbonlahor, their first-half showing did not inspire confidence that they could leave South Wales with a positive result.

However, manager Paul Lambert acknowledged the futility of his 5-3-2 and freshened things up at the break, with Andreas Weimann replacing wing-back Aly Cissokho and Villa dominated the second half as a result, with Weimann at the heart of nearly everything that they created. Despite huffing and puffing, though, Villa eventually ran out of ideas and the defeat can be traced back to the way in which Lambert set up his team for a first half that ultimately proved to be their downfall.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Ron Vlaar: Not many defenders have managed to keep Bony completely quiet throughout a 90 minutes this season, but Vlaar offered a masterclass in how to combat the talismanic hitman today after barely giving the Ivory Coast international a sniff in the entire game. Bony will represent his country at the Africa Cup of Nations in the coming weeks, but first he must find a way out of the Dutchman's pocket.

Biggest gaffe

Ashley Williams will have never been so happy to see the offside flag as when he did at one point in the first half. Williams looked certain to make it 2-0 after evading his marker from a Sigurdsson free kick, but the Swansea captain totally missed the ball and it bounced out for what seemed a goal kick. However, it became clear that he was offside, but the flag did little to spare his blushes.

Referee performance

Roger East did not have a good game overall. He made the correct decision every time that he flashed his yellow card, but he did look influenced by a partisan Swansea crowd by awarding the hosts a number of cheap free kicks. Villa also looked to have a stonewall penalty denied when Williams nudged Agbonlahor off the ball as he went through one on one with Lukasz Fabianski. It was a penalty, and would have had to be a red card for the Swans skipper, too, but East never budged. Poor decision.

What next?

Swansea City: The Welsh side have the luxury of a three-day break in the hectic festive period as the Swans face Liverpool at Anfield on Monday.

Aston Villa: Lambert's side are back in action on Sunday afternoon as Sunderland travel to Villa Park.