Paul Clement believes the visit of Stoke next Saturday is a must-win game for his Swansea side as they remain embroiled in the battle for Premier League survival.

This defeat at Watford in a poor game on Saturday deepened their worries, Étienne Capoue scoring the only goal after dispossessing Alfie Mawson on the edge of the penalty area. Mawson’s dawdling proved costly as Watford saw out the game to all but assure themselves of another season in the top flight.

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The defeat, a fifth in six games, leaves Swansea two points from safety with five fixtures remaining. They host Stoke at the Liberty Stadium and Clement, the Swansea manager, feels his side need to win that match after Mark Hughes’s side beat 17th-placed Hull to keep the gap at two points. He said: “With five games to go we are more than likely going to need to win three of those, and who will know if even that will be enough? I believe we can win three out of five games, we have won four out of six. It is an absolute must-win against Stoke.

“Hull haven’t won so that is a bonus but also a missed opportunity, as if we had got the result we would have got out of the bottom three.”

Clement was unhappy with Mawson’s error and said the 23-year-old was feeling the pain of costing his side at least a point. “He’s very disappointed,” he said. “He knows he made a big mistake and we hope he won’t do that ever again.

“Overall defensively in the game we were OK. It is clear what happened with the goal. It was an individual error and it came at a bad time. It is not something you expect from your central defender in that area of the pitch.

“It was a better performance than last week at West Ham, more spirit and confidence in the players but not the quality where it was needed.

“When you have gone six games and you have picked up one point, confidence can be affected and has been affected, but we have to deal with that.”

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Things had started brightly for Swansea here though, with Heurelho Gomes making a smart save from Gylfi Sigurdsson. But Gomes was at fault before the visitors passed up a glorious opportunity to take the lead with a little over 10 minutes gone. The Watford goalkeeper flapped at a Sigurdsson free-kick with the ball looping towards Federico Fernández, but the defender headed over from six yards.

The Swansea goalkeeper, Lukasz Fabianski, had to be at this best moments later to tip over Troy Deeney’s effort.

Watford grew into the game and were ahead four minutes before the interval as Capoue caught Mawson napping in possession, robbing the defender before turning home at the second attempt.

The second half offered little quality. Gomes did well to clear a Sigurdsson free-kick from under his crossbar but Swansea never really threatened Watford’s lead.

While Watford remain in the top half of the table, their manager, Walter Mazzarri, insists his side are not safe. “Until the maths and the numbers say we are not safe then we are not safe. We will fight in all games like we did today. If we do this I don’t know where we will be until the end of the season but that will be the mentality.”