Swansea City boss Carlos Carvalhal has explained holding back Wilfried Bony since his appointment.

Bony has been beset by hamstring injury problems, limiting the Ivorian to three goals from 15 appearances in all competitions.

“Bony has been involved in three games," said Carvalhal.

“The first was in the Cup at Wolves after he had been injured. I put him in to improve the tempo. The performance was not good, but I could not expect more than that because he had only trained three or four times.

“In Newcastle, he was involved in part of the game and he created impact. In the last 20 minutes, he created impact.

“We now have more opportunity to give him more time in this game.

“I think he is on the process to be at the level that all of us want from him – but he is still in the process.

“He hasn't played too much and I prefer that a player like that can really effect the game. Even if it's only 30 minutes, I prefer that at a high level than a whole game where he has to protect himself.

“If he plays the whole 90 minutes when he is not fit, then the players can lose confidence and the team can lose games, also.

“I must be careful about how I manage him. If he creates impact, he will get confidence. He must grow like that. I hope he can progress like he has done in those three games.

“We need all the players to score goals and we need everyone at 100 per cent of their best level and even if we have that we are not the strongest team in the competition."