Swansea 1 Aston Villa 0 - Report and pictures

A moment of magic from Gylfi Sigurdsson saw Swansea City take all three points from Villa on their home turf.

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The talented Swans midfielder curled home a delicious free kick in the first-half to wrap up the win, with what proved to be the only goal of the game.

Villa had threatened early on when Gabby Agbonlahor's powerful 20-yarder had goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski beaten, but the ball swerved just the wrong side of the post.

But the game changed when Jefferson Montero broke towards goal, getting past a couple of defenders before Jores Okore illegally halted his progress on the edge of the box.

The focus immediately turned to Sigurdsson and the Icelander made what was a fine finish look easy.

He arced his shot into Brad Guzan's side of the net and, when the goalkeeper took a step in the wrong direction, his chance to save was gone.

Swansea swept the ball around as they attempted to build on the early lead, though their cause was not helped when Montero limped off with a hamstring injury.

He had been their biggest threat in the first quarter. Without him, Swansea struggled to find as many spaces in Villa's five-man rearguard.

And for all the home side's possession, it was Paul Lambert's Villa who came close with a couple of set-pieces before the break.

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After he was felled by Ashley Williams, Christian Benteke picked himself up to smash a free-kick through the wall and inches wide of Fabianski's right-hand post.

And there was another scare for the Pole in Swansea's goal just before the turnaround when Agbonlahor nodded Fabian Delph's centre narrowly wide of the target.

Lambert changed approach at half-time, sending on Andreas Weimann, and it was Villa who showed first in the second period when Swansea struggled to clear.

First, Tom Cleverley's shot was well blocked by Angel Rangel, then the hosts breathed a sigh of relief as Okore dragged wide.

But the change of shape was working for Villa, with Swansea surrendering control of the ball and facing pressure as a result.

Weimann almost did something special, weaving his way into the penalty area, but his weak shot was easily gathered by Fabianski.

Next the Austrian found space on the Swansea left, but let the hosts off the hook by drilling his cross too close to Fabianski.

Lambert was aminated in the away dugout as Swansea were trying to find a way to re-establish control, nearly doing that with a sweet move led by Wilfried Bony.

He found Ki Sung-Yueng, who was through on goal after a neat one-two with Sigurdsson. But with the ball bobbling, the South Korean lifted his shot way over the bar.

Bony found the target with a much crisper finish a minute later, but his effort was rightly ruled out for offside.

There was no breathing space for Swansea, who were stretched once more when Benteke lofted a ball over the top for Agbonlahor.

The Villa forward claimed a penalty for a shove by Williams as he lofted his shot wide of the target.

To Swansea's relief, referee Roger East pointed for a goal-kick rather than towards the spot.

Marvin Emnes arrived from the bench, and within an instant the Dutchman might have laid on a decisive second goal.

Played in down the left after good work by Wayne Routledge and Neil Taylor, Emnes picked out Nathan Dyer at the far post.