Swansea City manager Garry Monk has said that his team are "improving all the time" after they beat Aston Villa 1-0 on Friday.

Gylfi Sigurdsson's first-half free kick was enough to win the Boxing Day fixture after Swans keeper Lukasz Fabianski produced a series of good saves during the match.

After the game, Monk told BBC Sport: "It was a tough game. In the first half we played some lovely stuff, had an early goal and could have had one or two more. We showed great defensive qualities, and there was a great save from Fabianski in the end. It was a great stop at a crucial point of the game.

"Overall, we defended very well. In these conditions today, some of our football was good. Gylfi practices most days with those free-kicks so it's no fluke. We had a couple of chances where we could have made it more comfortable - both teams dug in and tried to win the game and thankfully it was us.

"We're improving all the time. These types of results are good for the mentality. Ultimately, we have to be happy. Three points, a clean sheet, is very good."

The result leaves Swansea eighth in the Premier League table.