Swansea City's old Achilles heel now shaping up to be their biggest strength

For all their frustrations in the final third, against an admittedly resolute and well-drilled opponent, Swansea were once again impressive defensively, securing their fourth clean sheet in five games.

It's the first time Swansea have achieved such a feat since 1978, and with just one goal conceded so far, they currently have the stingiest defence in the Championship.

The single goal, Eric Bocat's strike for Stoke City on the opening day, was some 440 minutes of football ago.

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It's an impressive feat, particularly given that the depth of options, especially at the heart of defence, was previously cited as something of a weak point earlier in the season.

Cameron Burgess looks to be out for the entire campaign, while an injury to Ben Cabango, who played all but one of his side's Championship games last season, forced Vitor Matos into the untried and untested pairing of summer signing Stephen Welsh and youngster Filip Lissah.

So far, both have stepped up to the challenge. So much so, one could argue returning skipper Cabango now faces a real battle to get back into this side.

Welsh made several really good interventions on Saturday night, while Lissah has marked his recent run in the side with some really accomplished performances.

Both have looked just as comfortable in possession too, which may actually be more conducive to the sort of football Matos wants to play.

Jenson Seelt, who recently arrived on loan from Sunderland is also waiting to come in.

Suddenly, after looking a little threadbare, there are some real options there.

"We have healthy competition, and it's important to have depth in that position," Matos said.

"Last season we coped for the whole season with Ben and Cam. It was quite a hard task for them. Having the depth there, which allows them to be fresh, is massive.

"Now we have Welshy (Stephen Welsh), Ben, Jenson [Seelt] and Fil [Lissah], which is nice to have and important for the upcoming games."

Much has previously been made of the options up front, with Matos facing the challenge of balancing strikers Zan Vipotnik, Adam Idah and Ross Stewart, all of whom have a solid pedigree at this level.

But the truth is that goals alone are unlikely to adequately nourish a realistic play-off challenge. Without a solid defensive foundation, Swansea's ambitions will ultimately be built on sand.

"It's good, but we know it can change quite quickly," Matos said when asked about the importance of his side's defensive record so far.

"We all know how the league is and how the results are.

"That [defensive record] is something that we need to take care of, of course. It's important for us.

"We have said from the beginning that it is important to defend well to then be able to attack. That is the feeling that we want to have."