Swansea City Avenge Last Season's Loss, Thrash QPR 5-0 at Loftus Road

Swansea City didn't have much to complain about in last season's run-in, where they would finish a surprising 11th in the league standings, but a 3-0 misfiring away defeat to Queen Park Rangers still rankled.

Midfielder Leon Britton called it "the worst performance of last season," and spoke of his desire to repay the club's terrific fan base with a positive result.

On Saturday, they couldn't have made a better start to the season, particularly considering that they'd seen their 2011-12 campaign—the first-ever for a Welsh Club in the modern Premier League—begin with a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City.

This road trip was far cry from either of the afore-mentioned games, as new manager Michael Laudrup watched his side run riot over QPR, winning 5-0 at Loftus Road.

Michu, signed for just £2 million this summer from Rayo Vallecano, scored the first goal of the Premiership season when he hammered a low drive past Rob Green in the eighth minute.

By all accounts, Green could have done more with the strike, but it trickled into the back of the net and it gave Swansea a priceless 1-0 advantage on the road.

The Spaniard would grab another goal just minutes later, keeping his balance and hitting a curling drive past Green into the top corner of goal.

His brace will have sent a strong message to the rest of the league. Scorer of 15 goals last season for Rayo, he is an early pick for signing of the season, simply based upon how little Laudrup had to pay to get a player of such undeniable quality.

Michu was joined on the score sheet by Nathan Dyer (2) and Team GB winger Scott Sinclair, who rounded off the scoring in the game's final minutes.

"It was very impressive," Laudrup told the club's official site. "It's always nice to win your first game of the season and to win away from home is always important because it can give you so much confidence going forward.

"Last season it took us until January to win away from home and with two home games coming up, it gives us something to build on. But the players are the most important, and I'm delighted for them."

Michu, Chico and Jonathan de Guzman (loan), all brought in by Laudrup this summer, sparkled in their league debuts.

Jamie Mackie, one of the three scorers for QPR in that April game, nearly found the net again on Saturday but for some last-ditch defending from Chico, who cleared the ball off the line after keeper Michel Vorm had failed to collect.

So good were Swansea that Danny Graham, the club's leading scorer last season with 12 Premiership strikes, didn't even need to find the back of the net. Considering he'd put five in the back of the net in the last two friendlies and six in the last three, don't expect him to stay off the score sheet for long.

It was the perfect way to start the season, and with two home games now awaiting Swansea, they have every reason to feel they can get a good foothold in the standings by mid-September.