Soccer-Improved Swansea better prepared for survival fight - Carvalhal

March 9 (Reuters) - Manager Carlos Carvalhal said Swansea City are a vastly improved side since he took charge of the club in December but conceded they still have a lot more to do to ensure their Premier League survival.

The Welsh side have climbed out of the relegation zone and are 13th in the league, winning 17 points from the Portuguese manager's nine games in charge.

Carvalhal, who took over from Paul Clement in December, said that his rejuvenated team cannot celebrate just yet as they sit three points above the drop zone ahead of Saturday's trip to promoted Huddersfield.

"When I arrived, things were really very bad," Carvalhal said. "Nobody believed then that we could stay in the Premier League. We are not in such a bad position now, but we are still fighting for the same thing.

"We are very competitive now and we feel very strong. That does not mean we are better than any opponents, but we are in a position now where we can fight for the points against any other team in the Premier League.

"We must keep fighting for points in every game and, if we can save the team from relegation, this will be something fantastic," he added.

Swansea beat 15th-placed Huddersfield 2-0 earlier this season. (Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)