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Liam Cullen has scored six goals in his past eight Swansea appearances Liam Cullen scored twice as Swansea City bounced back to form with a comprehensive victory over Queens Park Rangers. Cullen's crisp first-time finish gave Swansea an early lead and the forward turned in their second goal – his sixth in eight games – before the half hour. Swansea's total dominance brought a third before the break, Goncalo Franco scoring on the rebound after Cullen's effort was saved. There was no way back for Rangers, whose seven-match unbeaten run ended with a whimper. Swansea's emphatic victory was a fine response following two dispiriting defeats before Christmas, with Luke Williams' team triumphing for only the second time in six matches. The R's offered almost nothing as they suffered a first defeat since early November. Marti Cifuentes' team drop to 16th, six points above the bottom three, while Swansea are seven points adrift of the play-off places in 10th. Swansea had produced their poorest performance of the season in defeat at Hull last weekend, while Rangers boss Cifuentes felt his team delivered their best display of the campaign in their win over Preston on the same afternoon. Yet the visitors' greater momentum counted for nothing as they were outplayed from the outset, with Swansea – remarkably - enjoying 85% of the ball before half-time. Their first clear chance brought the opening goal, with Cullen typically assured – even on his weaker right foot - as he turned home Ronald's low cross. Ronald was then denied by Paul Nardi, but the Rangers goalkeeper could do nothing as Josh Key burst into the area and drilled the ball across the face, where Cullen was in the right place once again to double Swansea's advantage. The Swans kept on coming forward – and a Rangers side who were opened up too easily, too often conceded once more when Eom Ji-Sung fed Cullen in the area. This time the Wales international's driven shot was parried by Nardi, leaving summer signing Franco to turn in the rebound for his first goal in English football. Goncalo Franco's goal was his first since joining Swansea from Moreirense last summer QPR simply had to improve after the break, though it was Swansea who had the first opportunity of the second period as Key's drive was beaten away by Nardi. With that Rangers finally conjured some attacking threat – albeit briefly - with Lawrence Vigouroux forced to smother as Paul Smyth's deflected cross threatened to squirm in at the near post. Substitute Harrison Ashby had QPR's one shot of any note against his former club late on, thought it deflected harmlessly wide, before Swansea came close to adding a layer of gloss to their fourth home league win of the season when Zan Vipotnik drilled just wide of the post. By then the points were safe, and had been for a while. Swansea head coach Luke Williams: "if we perform like that, I am going to be happy. I thought it was an excellent performance. "We were terrified of QPR because they are one of the most in-form teams in the last six or seven games, so we really tried to focus on getting the correct performance because maybe we took our eye off that. "I think we got a bit close to the play-offs and it got a bit scary and maybe we lost sight of performing in the correct way. We certainly didn't disappoint ourselves with our performance today. "We managed to get a foothold in the game and performed to a really high level. Certainly today was one of the best examples of how we should play. " QPR head coach Marti Cifuentes: "It was a disappointing first half. We knew Swansea would try to start strongly and they are a side that likes to control possession. "We knew we needed to defend our box well because they are a team that likes to cross a lot, but we were late in the duels and gave them the extra second that makes the difference in quality players breaking the lines. "Our first half was very poor and we weren't at the level we were in our last few games. We gave them the opportunities to score. "The second half was about showing pride and to compete for the fans who had travelled. We made a step forward. "We talked about trying to score in the opening minutes of the second half to try to make a comeback but it wasn't enough. We have to move on. " Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 26th December 2024 at 18: 18 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Luke Williams Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Martí Cifuentes Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Luke Williams Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Martí Cifuentes Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Championship All competitions All competitions All competitions Swansea City have won one of their last seven league games against QPR (D3 L3), a 1-0 home win in the 2022-23 season. QPR have won three of their last four away league matches against Swansea (L1), winning all three by a 1-0 scoreline in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2023-24. Swansea City have lost five of their last six league games on Boxing Day, but the other game was a 2-0 win over QPR in 2020. QPR have won one of their last 10 league matches on Boxing Day (D2 L7), failing to score in each of their last four since a 3-0 win over Ipswich in 2018. Queens Park Rangers are winless in their last 22 away games on Boxing Day (D7 L15) since Alec Stock led them to a 1-0 win over Plymouth in 1967. Match ends, Swansea City 3, Queens Park Rangers 0. Second Half ends, Swansea City 3, Queens Park Rangers 0. Attempt missed. Jake Clarke-Salter (Queens Park Rangers) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Jonathan Varane following a corner. Attempt missed. Jonathan Varane (Queens Park Rangers) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Ilias Chair with a cross following a corner. Corner, Queens Park Rangers. Conceded by Azeem Abdulai. Foul by Ben Lloyd (Swansea City). Lucas Andersen (Queens Park Rangers) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Fourth official has announced 4 minutes of added time. Offside, Swansea City. Zan Vipotnik is caught offside. Offside, Queens Park Rangers. Harrison Ashby is caught offside. Foul by Ben Lloyd (Swansea City). Harrison Ashby (Queens Park Rangers) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Substitution, Swansea City. Azeem Abdulai replaces Ronald. Substitution, Swansea City. Ben Lloyd replaces Liam Cullen. Substitution, Swansea City. Jay Fulton replaces Gonçalo Franco. Offside, Swansea City. Myles Peart-Harris is caught offside. Substitution, Queens Park Rangers. Lucas Andersen replaces Paul Smyth because of an injury. Attempt missed. Zan Vipotnik (Swansea City) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Liam Cullen with a through ball. Jonathan Varane (Queens Park Rangers) is shown the yellow card for hand ball. Hand ball by Jonathan Varane (Queens Park Rangers). © 2024 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.