Swansea v Tottenham preview: Nathan Dyer says Swans can hit winning streak again after international break

Nathan Dyer hopes the international break can help a refreshed Swansea finish their superb season in strong fashion - starting with Saturday's meeting with Tottenham.

The Swans sit in ninth position in the Premier League table but suffered back-to-back defeats prior to the brief intermission for World Cup qualifying fixtures.

Those defeats to West Brom and Arsenal saw a dip in form on the back of a memorable week when the south Wales club secured the Capital One Cup and reached the 40-point mark in the league with a hard-fought victory over Newcastle.

While the likes of Ashley Williams, Ben Davies, Ki Sung-yueng and Jonathan de Guzman featured for their countries, the majority of Michael Laudrup's squad got the chance to recharge their batteries ahead of the final run-in.

Spurs, on the other hand, had a dozen first-team players away.

Dyer feels he has benefited from the gap between fixtures, and is raring to go as Swansea try to claim a top-half finish.

"It is always nice to have a break," he said. "We had a very busy period in January and it is good to have some time away and come back refreshed and ready to go again.

"As well as we have done so far this season we have to keep pushing and see how high we can finish. Hopefully we can bounce back this weekend.

"It would be easy to relax but we will keep going and set our sights higher and set the standard for next season."

If Swansea are to pick up a result they will have to find a way to stop Dyer's former Southampton team-mate and friend Gareth Bale.

The 23-year-old Wales winger is currently the form player in the Barclays Premier League thanks to a stunning run of form which has seen him score 12 goals in his last 13 appearances for club and country.

Bale will be looking to get Tottenham's Champions League push back on track at the Liberty Stadium, where he scored for his country in midweek, after they suffered back-to-back league defeats of their own against Liverpool and Fulham.

Dyer came across Bale when the pair trained together as youngsters at the Saints' satellite academy centre in Bath, and the winger has nothing but admiration for what Bale has gone onto achieve.

He said: "Tottenham are a great side, they have plenty of power and pace and my good friend plays for them.

"There is not much that has not been said about him already, and we will have to do our homework and come out fighting.

"I know Gareth from Southampton's satellite centre in Bath where we trained together all the way through.

"The technique he has now is the same as then, but the pace and the power he now has has blown me away. He didn't used to be as fast as that.

"We can't focus everything on stopping him but we will have to try and stop him somehow."

Dyer believes Swansea can prosper against Andre Villas-Boas' side if they focus on their own possession game, which has seen them lose only two home games against the Premier League's top five since securing promotion.

He said: "We have to play our own game, we have shown previously against the big teams that at our best we can match them. It's not about stopping them, it's about playing our own game."

PA